Fight For the Future
by soultaker78
Summary: Raven has been challenged to battle by a remorseless enemy who is building a small army to go after her, so she must gather a force of her own made from friends and temporary allies. Includes elements from the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises.
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes: in order to really understand what's going on with what lead up to the events here, you need to read the previous stories in this series. Details on my profile page.

…..

Classes had ended on Monday and Raven's attack force (minus Ashlynn and Melody, who would join them later) had gathered outside the school, ready to go into the woods and begin training. Sparrow had agreed to let them train in the patch of the woods around the treehouse he lived in instead of a dorm.

Daring had taken Cedar to the school's weapon's locker so she could pick a weapon to use. After looking over the selection, Cedar decided to go with a long-handled war hammer that she was able to use well due to her being stronger than a human.

Daring had checked out the war hammer and would return it later, claiming he was doing some hextra-curricular practice with it. As long as he checked it back in at the end of the day, this wouldn't arise any suspicion.

"Four others will be meeting up with us," Raven told the group as they began walking towards the woods.

"What others?" Duchess asked, not liking this sudden development.

"You'll see," Raven answered. They walked for a few minutes and then met up with who Raven mentioned: Meiling, Finelope in her magic carpet apolstered wheelchair, Kamen Rider Star Knight (actually Darling Charming) and the White Knight (really Jillian Beanstalk). Finelope had her spell rifle and bandolier of energy capsules with her while Meiling had a straight sword at her side and a staff ending with a curved blade on her back.

"Why's Finelope here?" Duchess asked rudely. "The only way she could help is by beaching herself onto someone."

"You should fairy careful what you say around me," Finelope coldly stated as she aimed the rifle at Duchess. "Hexspecially while I have this."

"What kind of weapon is that?" Dexter asked.

"This kind," Finelope answered as she shot a bolt of green energy near Duchess's feet, causing everyone's eyes to widen in shock.

"Finelope, please don't shoot Duchess," Raven said. "At least until I so: then you can go nuts."

"Okay," Finelope agreed as she lowered the rifle.

"And please tell me you brought the things I wanted," Raven said.

"I did," Finelope answered as she reached into a big bag strapped to the back of her wheelchair and took out the magic bow and the sheathed charge blade.

"Who the hex are the other three?" Sparrow asked. "Start with the muscular Chinese girl."

"That's Meiling," Finelope spoke up. "She's a friend of my roommate is a serious fitness nut."

"The silvery Kamen Rider," Raven began, "is named Star Knight. I met her on an adventure I had a while ago. She's kind of my sidekick. And the armor is a suit that Dexter let me use an artifact on it to make it move on it's own."

Those were the cover stories Raven had decided to go with for Jillian and Darling. She couldn't tell the truth about Jillian being inside the armor because that would lead to questions about how she got the armor from Darling and what Darling was doing with it earlier, then it wouldn't take long for Darling's secret to come out. Jillian even went the hextra mile by duct taping her mouth shut so she wouldn't make any grunts or other noises that would destroy the illusion of no one being inside the armor.

"With that out of the way," Raven started as she took the charge blade from Apple and walked towards Cupid, "I want you to give this a try. press this," Cupid took the blade and pressed the switch on the side as instructed, causing the magical blade to materialize.

"Wow," Cupid said as she performed a few practice swings. "I can work with this."

"Change if you need to," Raven said to the group as she materialized her belt and focused her magic into her right hand. "Henshin," she cried out as she put the magic into the belt, turning into Kamen Rider Nocturnal.

Maddie reached into her hat and took out her Astro Switch. She pressed it and turned into the Cassiopeia zodiart. Duchess closed her eyes, called upon the cosmic energy inside her and turned into the Cygnus zodiart.

Cerise, Daring, Hunter, Briar and Dexter got together and raised their right forearms vertically in front of them. As they did this, a tattoo like symbol appeared on each one of their hands of their Dremora spirit animal.

"Spirit unity," the five of them cried out at once. This caused their Dremora spirits to pop out of their backs, travel in an arc back towards them. When the Dremora returned to their bondmates, this caused them to be enveloped by bright flashes of colored light that donned them in their Dremoranger suits.

"Wow," Cedar said, impressed by the group transformation.

"So glad I passed on that," Sparrow muttered, finding the suits to look ridiculous but not wanting to antagonize everyone else by sharing that opinion.

"Do you guys have any ideas what your abilities are?" Apple asked.

"Yeah," Dremora Green answered. "I'm not sure how I know this but we all get these special bows." Dremora Green summoned a green bow to appear in his right hand and the other Dremorangers also summoned matching bows. As a demonstration, Dremora Green drew back the bow which caused a metal arrow to materialize. He aimed at a nearby tree and let go, the arrow hitting its mark and then dematerialzing.

The other Dremorangers also drew their bows and aimed at the same tree. Blue and Yellow's arrows also hit the tree due to previous hexperience with archery but Red and Pink's arrows missed.

"It's not as easy as it looks," Apple said from past hexperience.

"We also get individual weapons," Dremora Pink said as she summoned her weapon: a large pink yo-yo with a silouhette of a fox on both sides. "My Vixy Yo-yo may not look like much but looks can be deceiving." She threw out the yo-yo, causing a pink energy aura to appear around it. It hit a nearby tree, causing an impressive thud that shook some leaves from the top.

The other Dremorangers dispelled their bows and summoned their personal weapons: Blue had a mace with a blue handle, Green had an axe with a green handle that was long enough for him to grip with both hands if he wanted, Yellow had two yellow and black gauntlets that ended in lion heads larger than his fists and lastly, Red had two red-handled knives with curved, black blades.

WIth that out of the way, everyone began training in their own ways. The Dremorangers began practicing with their weapons, Star Knight and the White Knight began practicing sword fighting with Star Knight giving pointers. Raven summoned her magical duplicate, Maggie, and began sparring with her. Finelope, Cedar and Cupid began practing with their weapons.

Apple and Meiling went over to Finelope and took out items from the bag on her wheelchair. Apple took out a quiver of arrows while Meiling took out a chinese weapon called a meteor hammer. Apple strapped on the quiver and also put on a pair of sunglasses that were actually her prescribtion glasses with the lenses tinted red. Each of them began practicing with these weapons, Apple putting aside using the magic bow's ability to bestow special effects on its arrows to focus on brushing up on her archery skills. Sparrow went into his treehouse and took out two short swords to practice with them.

"You're not going to use a bow?" Apple asked.

"Nah," Sparrow replied. "I've never really gotten the hang of archery."

"That doesn't surprise me: archery requires focus and discipline, which are not traits I'd associate with you."

"Pfff, you sound like my dad."

While this went on, Maddie and Duchess got used to their zodiart forms: Maddie practiced with her ice powers and swinging her scepter like a club while Duchess tried to adapt her ballet skills into a fighting style.

A few minutes into practice, the group was joined by their last two members: Ashlynn and Melody.

"I think I missed a lot," Melody said as she looked around and saw some strange looking people that she didn't recognize. Nocturnal stopped practicing with Maggie to greet them.

"I'm guess that's Hunter and everyone else," Ashlynn said as she pointed towards the Dremorangers, "and I recognize Maddie but not the knight, the smaller knight or the swan thing."

"The swan thing is Duchess," Nocturnal answered. "She had a serious side effect to something Evan did." Nocturnal then repeated the cover stories for the white knight and Star Knight. "What did you two get?"

"I brought this," Melody said as she held up a gold flute. "It's a magic flute my dad got before I was born. If it works, it will strengthen up to three people close to me."

"And I got this wand," Ashlynn began as she held it up, "from Farrah. She was kind enough to let me borrow her spare when I mentioned it was to stop Evan. Unfortunately, I can't do much with it cause I'm not a magical being but I'll do my best."

Nocturnal directed Melody to see what her flute could do for Sparrow and Meiling. Melody walked towards Meiling and her eyes widened in shock when she got a good look at the Chinese girl.

"I take it I'm the most muscular girl you've ever seen," Meiling said with a smile while she flexed her right arm, producing a small but firm bicep.

Melody then noticed all the weapons she had.

"Do you think you brought enough weapons?" Melody asked sarcastically.

"No but this all I can carry," Meiling answered, ignoring or not noticing the sarcasm. She motioned Sparrow to come over to them. When they were close, she played the flute. While there was no visible effect, this wasn't the same as nothing happening.

"I feel great!" Sparrow hexlaimed as energy surged through him. He and Meiling resumed practicing with their weapons, moving almost twice as fast as before.

Ahylynn used the wand to shoot out sparkling blasts of energy. After a few shots, she tried using the wand telekinetically move small rocks.

After about twenty minutes of practice, two white lights appeared around Duchess. The lights went into her hands and turned into two bladed fans that were made of segments that looked like white feathers. Duchess was confused as to why this happened but was enjoying having new weapons.

"Raven," Duchess called out, got her attention and showed the fan blades. "I just got these and don't know why. Any ideas?"

"Zodiarts sometimes get new weapons and abilities," Nocturnal began, "depending on their personalities."

"Ah," Duchess said in understanding. "So that's why these look like ones that were used by a female character in a martial arts film I saw last week."

 _I'll have to thank Hopper later_ , she thought. Shad heard Hopper talk about how great martial arts films were and decided to watch one at the small theater in Asia Town. She got a better look at the fan blades and took a few practice swings. _A combination of gracefulness and deadliness: my two favorite of all the -nesses._

...

While this was going on, Evan's cabal had gathered at the same spot they used earlier.

"We're going to add some members to our group," Evan said as he addressed Hopper, Lizzie and Blondie. "I need the three of you to close your eyes and think about how much you want Raven to pay."

The three of them did as instructed while Evan took out three metal coins called Cell Medals. He threw them at his allies' foreheads, which caused slots to appear there before the coins went inside them. A moment later, a grey humanoid that was wrapped in what looked like white bandages emerged from each of them.

Evan closed his eyes and focused his magic into making these creatures evolve into their next forms. The one from Hopper changed into a light green mantis monster with antennae, small leg-like appendages on the face and torso that was wielding two sickles made to look like a mantis's bladed arms. The one from Blondie turned into a white creature with a red face that had furred arms and legs as well as a furred hood that looked like an owl's head and a short white cape that looked to be made of white feathers. The one from Lizzie became a muscular brown monster with an ant's head and six small bug legs along the torso.

"What the hex," Hopper shouted at this strange sight.

"These creatures are called yummies," Evan began. "They are manifestations of your desire to fight Raven."

"You realize how weird that sounds, right?" Blondie asked.

"I know, I just don't care," Evan said gleefully, pleased to show of his monster making capabilities.


	2. Chapter 2

The training continued for Raven's group. It didn't take long for Duchess to get used to her fan blades and felt like testing them against an opponent.

"Anyone want to take me on in a sparring match?" Dutchess asked.

"I'll do it," Dremora Red hexcitedly answered.

"No, I will," Dremora Pink piped in.

"I wouldn't mind taking a whack at her," Dremora Green added while doing a practice swing with his grizzly axe.

"Should have seen that coming," Duchess muttered, not surprised that several people were jumping at the chance to fight her.

"So you three will fight Duchess," Dremora Yellow spoke up and then faced Nocturnal, "while I give Raven a demonstration of my skills."

"Sounds good," Nocturnal agreed.

 _The only bad part about this_ , Raven thought, _is that because Daring's wearing a helmet, I won't get a good look at the smug grin being wiped from his prick face._

"I want to fight somebody," Maddie said.

"I'll see what you've got," Dremora Blue replied. Everybody spread out into the groups mentioned and stood about twenty feet from each other.

Dremora Yellow dismissed his Lion Gauntlets, summoned his bow and shot an arrow at Nocturnal. She took a grazing shot and countered by throwing two energy daggers in quick succession that hit Dremora Yellow, causing spark damage. Nocturnal threw two more daggers but Dremora Yellow threw his bow aside, recalled the Lion Guantlets and used them to successfully block.

Notcurnal began running at Dremora Yellow, who also began running. Dremora Yellow delivered a punch that Nocturnal evaded by dropping to the ground and sliding past him. Nocturnal quickly got back, summoned her Night Axe hit Dremora Yellow in his back. He countered by turning around and hitting the dark Rider in the chest with his left gauntlet, which was followed up by a punch from the right one. The force was great enough that it pushed Nocuturnal back a bit.

Nocturnal played a few strings on her Night Axe sent out pink sound waves at Dremora Yellow, causing him to be tickled on several spots and start laughing uncontrollably. Nocturnal raised the Night Axe and tried to deliver an axe swing but Dremora Yellow maintained enough of his focus to swat it away with his right gauntlet and then punched her with his left.

Dremora Yellow tried to punch Nocturnal again but she sidestepped the punch, spun around and devliverd an axe strike to his back. While Dremora Yellow turned around, Nocturnal switched the Night Axe to guitar mode and played a power chord, sending a bolt of lightning to shoot out of the tip and Dremora Yellow in the chest. This caused a great deal of spark damage but he stood his ground.

Nocturnal pulled her axe back and struck Dremora Yellow in the shoulder. Dremora Yellow countered by delivering a quick punch to the dark rider's stomach and another punch that was only a glancing blow. He made a swatting motion at the Night Axe and successfully knocked it out of Nocturnal's hand.

Rather than by hindered by being disarmed, Nocturnal dropped to the ground and kicked him in the knee making him fall to the ground. Nocturnal quickly got back to her feet and kicked D. Yellow in the side hard enough to slightly lift him off the ground and make him roll for several feet.

"I yield," D. Yellow said, not interested in fighting anymore because he was slightly dizzy due to how much his head moved around recently.

"Good, because I don't know how many more of your punches I can take," Raven said as she de-transformed and rubbed a small bruise on her stomach.

...

Maddie and Dremora Blue squared off while this happened. D. Blue shot two arrows: only one hit. Maddie returned fire by shooting two ice spikes. D. Blue evaded one then quickly summoned his Hawk Mace to his right hand and smacked the other away. Maddie used her ice powers to create a sheet of ice on the ground that she then slid on to quickly close the distance between them.

When close to D. Blue, Maddie delivered a good whack with her scepter that caused some spark damage. She tried to deliver another blow but D. Blue parried it away with his bow and delivered a whack of his own followed by another.

Maddie pointed her scepter at D. Blue and unleashed a powerful burst of freezing mist that caused a lot of spark damage. Maddie followed through by delivering a powerful whack that sent D. Blue to the ground.

 _Need distance_ , Dexter thought as he rolled away from Maddie as she tried to hit him while he was down. After about ten feet, D. Blue stopped rolling, dropped the Hawk Mace, stood up and shot an arrow from his bow that hit Maddie. He shot another one that only grazed her.

Maddie conjured a large chunk of ice that fell next to her. She pulled back her scepter and used it like a croquet mallet to send it towards D. Blue. The chunk hit his side as he failed to dodge it. Worse, it hit a spot that took a lot of damage from Maddie's freezing mist, which was causing D. Blue a lot pain right now.

"I give up," D. Blue said, deciding it wasn't worth the additional pain to continue.

...

Dremoras Red, Green and Pink stood across from Duchess and shot arrows at her. Duchess used her fan blades to deflect them and countered by twirling in place, which sent out a bunch of feather shaped projectiles towards the three Dremorangers. Dremora Red ran to evade the projectiles while the other two were hit.

D. Red quickly ran towards Duchess while dispelling her bow and summoning her Wolf Fang Daggers. She got close and delivered two slashes before Duchess made a slash with one of her fan blades. Duchess then leapt back almost ten feet, her zodiart form bestowing her with great agility. D. Red raced after her but then Duchess leapt forward, catching her off guard. Duchess shot towards D. Red too quickly for her to dodge or ready a counterattack and thrusted out both fan blades. This didn't hurt D. Red too much so she was able to counter with a dagger slash quickly.

While this happened, D. Green recovered from Duchess's attack and shot an arrow that hit Duchess while she was occupied. D. Pink ran behind Duchess, switched to her Vixy Yo-yo and swung it at Duchesss from behind, hitting her and causing some spark damage. D. Red delivered a series of three slashes while D. Green shot another arrow.

Duchess leapt to the side of D. Red and over feet in the air towards a nearby tree. She leapt off the tree and did a quick twirl in mid that three feather projectiles each at Dremoras Red and Pink, catching them off guard. Duchess flew towards D. Red and delivered two devasting fan slashes that sent her to the ground.

Duchess then ran towards D. Pink, who lashed out her Yo-yo with a forward motion. The Yo-yo hit Duchess in the chest, causing some spark damage while Duchess was hit from behind by another of D. Green's arrows. Before D. Pink could pull back the Yo-yo, Duchess made a swift slash with one of her fans that severed the cord.

Shit, Briar thought at being effectively disarmed. With no other options, she brought out her bow and delivered a shot from close range. Duchess took the shot in stride as she closed the distance with D. Pink, delivered two slashes and finished with a twirling kick that sent D. Pink to the ground just as she was hit by another arrow.

Duchess didn't have long to spellibrate as D. Green had ran behind brandishing his Grizzly Axe and delivered a mighty chop that sent her to the ground. Duchess rolled out of the way just as D. Green tried to chop her on the ground.

Duchess got back on her feet and was about to charge at D. Green but was caught off guard by D. Red blind-sighting her and delivering three slashes by the time Duchess countered with one. Duchess then side-stepped another slash and delivered another twirling kick. D. Green ran up to Duchess and delivered two successive chops that sent her to the ground.

"I give up, I give up," Duchess yielded.


	3. Chapter 3

After the matches between Nocturnal, Maddie Duchess and the Dremorangers, everyone split up to resume their training of choise. Duchess and Cedar were practicing next to each other when Cedar went up to her.

"You were impressive in that fight," Cedar said.

"Thanks," Duchess said. She continued training for a bit and then went over to Meiling, reverting to human form when close.

"What do you want?" Meiling asked with disdain.

"I just want to know you more," Duchess said. "You are simultaneously the only Chinese girl I've ever met and the most muscular girl I've ever met. That makes you immensely fascinating. Where do you live in Asia Town?"

"I live and work in my Uncle Woo's butcher shop," Meiling answered.

"Strange, I've been in there several times and never seen you there. I'm fairy sure I'd have noticed you."

"I work in the back. On another note, I apologize for my uncle calling you a cocksucker. Don't take it personally: he does it to everyone."

"Your uncle is lucky," Duchess began with a glare, "that his braised spare ribs are enough to make up for his shitty customer service. Back to me and you: I fairy much want to be your friend. This is a custom we do here when we make new friends."

Duchess then went next to Meiling and used her Mirrorphone to take a pic of them close together. Meiling gently shoved her away.

"I have no desire to be your friend," Meiling plainly stated.

"Is this about Finelope?" Duchess asked. "I don't know what she's told you about me..."

"She has told me," Meiling said coldly, "that you are a vile, cruel girl who takes immense pleasure in tormenting those you deem beneath you."

"Right," Duchess replied awkwardly and nothing to say in her defense. "I'll just go over there now."

Cedar was nearby when this happened and went over to Duchess when they were done talking.

"I overheard all of that," Cedar said. "I'll be your friend if you want."

"Why?" Duchess asked.

"Because I think that this might be an opportunity for you to ..., " Cedar paused as she tried to think of the right words. "Not be such a bitch," she blurted out, the magic preventing her from lying also preventing her from phrasing stuff tactfully.

"Maybe," Duchess said, not at all insulted by Cedar's words since she'd been called worse in the past.

"Are you upset that people here don't trust you?" Cedar asked.

"A little," Duchess answered.

"Try not to take it personally," Cedar continued. "You'd think that with my inability to lie, people would trust me but they are fairy reluctant since I can't keep secrets. My point is, trust is a complicated matter."

"I'll keep that in mind," Duchess said.

With the sprarring matches over with, everyone got together around a fire pit Sparrow had set up in the area. They all sat on logs around the pit. Maddie had used her ice powers to create a pile of ice chunks and took out several wraps from the dimensional storage space of her hat to make ice packs for people to put on their bruises. This helped while they waited for Ashlynn to use her wand to apply small amounts of healing magic to everyone.

"Where the hex did you learn to fight like that?" Daring asked Raven. He wasn't even upset (that much) over losing since Raven demonstrated an hexceptional level of skill.

"Meiling showed me a few things," Raven answered while holding a large ice pack to her stomach. "And I've been practicing for weeks: which is a fairy good thing since with the way you punch, I wouldn't beat you in a straight up slugfest." Daring smiled a bit at Raven's admission of his skill.

"I think the three of us should have done better against Duchess," Cerise said. "We had her outnumbered three to one. If you were planning on the Dremorangers being this great secret weapon to protect you, then you should probably come up with a new plan Raven."

"There is a way," Raven began, "that I might be able to boost your powers but it requires a level of finesse that I just don't have."

"We'll just have to keep practicing then," Cerise said.

 _That's what you think_ , Duchess thought.

Briar yawned, feeling tired between the training and skipping her afternoon nap.

"I've got you," Apple said as she prepared to catch her friend. However, Briar leaned the other way and fell towards Raven. Raven caught the sleepy princess who immediately dosed off.

 _Damn it_ , Raven thought. On one hand, she enjoyed being this close to Briar but on the other hand, due to how uncertain she was about acting on her feelings, this also felt like Briar was tormenting her. Raven was brought out of these thoughts by Duchess loudly clearing her throat to get everyone's attention.

"I have information on Evan's forces that I think everyone should hear," Duchess said and then looked at Briar. "Everyone who's awake that is. I know who Evan's allies are. He has Faebelle, Hopper, Blondie and Lizzie on his side. Of course those are just the ones I know about."

Daring and Cupid felt fairy uncomfortable hearing that their roommates were working for Evan.

"How do you know about them?" Raven asked.

"There was this meeting on Saturday," Duchess began. "Evan gathered up everyone he reached out to and told us of his plan to essentially beat you and then use some psychic artifact on you that would make you want to poison Apple. He then talked about empowering people and that he would use this weird glove to read our minds as a loyalty test. I told him that I wouldn't let him go anywhere near my mind so I walked out on them."

"When was this meeting?" Daring asked.

"Around 1 o'clock. Why?"

"Because I have a gap in my memory," Daring began, "between noon and 2 o'clock Saturday and according to you, Evan had this meeting with his followers in the middle of this gap." Everyone else had troubled looks as they connected the dots. "Was I at this meeting and objected to what Evan had in mind?"

"Yes," Duchess answered. "I didn't want to bring it up because it might have undermined the alliance between you and Raven. When you tried to talk everyone down, Evan used his weird glove thing to erase any knowledge of his plans from your mind."

"That's what I thought," Daring said. "I do like knowing for sure why I blacked out instead of it happening for some reason I didn't know about."

"Thanks for trying to talk his allies down," Raven said to Daring.

"You're welcome," Daring said.

They made small talk for a while before heading back to the school. Dexter and the White Knight went to an isolated spot. As far as everyone knew, he was going to remove the artifact animating the armor and store it but that was just a cover story.

"You can come out Jillian. It's clear," Dexter said. The armor opened up and Jillian stepped out. She then ripped off the duct tape she put over her mouth gave a small yelp of pain.

Jillian and Darling had talked to Dexter before the training began. They told her about Darling wanting to be a knight instead of a damsel, how Raven had given her the ability to become Kamen Rider Star Knight and how Jillian was now going to use the white knight armor. Dexter had been fairy understanding due to how much he loved his sister and concocted the cover story for the white Knight. They shared it with Raven who agreed to go along with it.

"You're coming along great," Dexter complimented. "I mean, you just started today and you've already got a good grasp on the basics of moving in that thing and sword play. That's impressive compared to how poorly I did against Maddie."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, mate," Jillian said. "I saw that fight. You did great when it was a battle of strength and skill. It's not your fault that you didn't have anything to counter her ice powers."

"I know," Dexter admitted. "But that doesn't mean anything if Evan's monsters have any similar abilities. Cerise is right: we leave a lot to be desired as Raven's ace in the hole."

...

While Dexter and Jillian conversed, Daring and Hunter had carried the sleeping Briar Beauty to her room while Ashlynn and Apple supervised. The boys laid their slumbering teammate on her bed.

"Thank you so much for your help," Ashlynn thanked the boys. "I'll let Briar sleep while I shower and change. I'll wake her up around 7:30 and we'll grab a quick dinner before the castleteria closes."

"Sounds good," Daring said and then he, Hunter and Apple left the room. "I need to talk to you about something in private."

"All right," Apple said. "Raven's probably done showering by now so we should have the room to ourselves."

When everyone went back to the school, Raven went ahead on Demona. Daring and Apple went to Apple's room. Apple looked around and verified that Raven was not present.

"What do you want to talk about?" Apple asked.

"A few things," Daring answered. "First, we agreed earlier that I'd be helping Raven mostly out of general nobility but you would also help me with something. I want to start the groundwork on that."

"What do you want?"

"I think it would be in this school's best interest for Headmaster Grimm to no longer be in charge. I need your help to go over his head and hexplain this in a convincing manner with your smartiness and ability to phrase stuff good."

 _You sure do_ , Apple thought. After this thought faded, the surprise of Daring's words hit her.

"You want to depose Grimm?" She asked in shock.

"Only because it seems necessary," Daring began. "My loyalty is to the sense of tradition this school stands for, not to Grimm personally. Every attempt Grimm's made to bring Raven in line has only escalated the situation. Someone else should have a chance to solve the Rebel problem."

"I agree with you completely," Apple said.

 _Although not for the reason you think_ , she mentally added. _Whoever Grimm's replacement ends up being, they'll probably be more open-minded to the idea of amiable compromise and more close-minded about being a lying scumbag than he is._

"But helping Raven is more time sensitive," Apple continued, "so that comes first."

"Of course," Daring agreed. "Can I borrow that notebook you used for the ritual? I want to learn more about these other teams we're imitating."

Apple couldn't think of a good reason to turn down this request so she agreed. She retrieved the notebook and gave it to Daring.

"Remember that this is actually Raven's," Apple said. "So give it back in a few days. And remember that other Sentai teams are fictitious."

"Thank you," Daring said then had a serious look on his face. "Do you like me?"

"Honestly, not really," Apple said. She knew a conversation like this was coming since their bad first date last week and decided to be honest. "I can see why other girls like you so much but that just doesn't apply to me. Do you like me?"

"I don't even know you," Daring shot back with a bit of hurt. "I had no idea you'd be capable of helping Raven with that ritual, or that you've practiced archery in the past or that you would need prescription sunglasses for something like archery."

"How'd you know that my sunglasses are prescription?" Apple asked.

"I didn't," Daring replied. "I had to trick you into admitting that just now."

"Well played," Apple complimented. There was an awkward silence over the two.

"Apple, we're supposed to get married," Daring said.

"Not for several years," Apple countered. "We'll worry about it then."

"Right," Daring said awkwardly as he left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

After breakfast Tuesday morning, Raven heard a message over the school's PA system ordering her to Baba Yaga's office and made her way over there.

"What did I do this ti ...," Raven said as she walked in and was caught off guard by seeing someone unexpected with Baba Yaga. "Duchess. What are doing here?"

"Duchess has told me," Baba Yaga began, "that you require help from someone with a level of magical finesse greater than what you have. I'm volunteering my services."

"What the hex is going on here?" Raven asked, flabbergasted at both Duchess sharing her plans with Grimm's right hand woman and that same woman's offer of assistance.

"Baba Yaga is on your side," Duchess piped in. "When I came to see her for treatment for what Evan did to me, she suggested that I team up with you and when I countered that it wouldn't be a great idea, she convinced me to give it a try. So when I heard you say that you had an idea yesterday to give your brightly colored allies a needed power boost but couldn't pull it off yourself, I shared it with her."

"I'll take any help I can get," Raven replied. "But that doesn't hexplain why you want to help me at all."

"I had a disturbing conversation with Headmaster Grimm recently," Baba Yaga answered.

...

(Begin flashback)

 _Grimm and Baba Yaga were in his office. He had something to discuss with her._

 _"A thought occurred to me," Grimm said. "It has to do with that school she went to: Monster High. I don't think it's a coincidence that after going there, her resolve to defy me was strengthened. I also don't like how two others, C.A Cupid and that striped cat girl, came from there immediately before making their own attempts at disruption. I have an idea to both bring Raven in line and ensure that we no longer have to worry about complications from that other school. I wish for you to destroy the school at a time when we are certain no one is inside it."_

 _Baba Yaga was struck back by Grimm's proposal. She wanted to refuse him but paused as she formulated a way to do so that would not aggravate him into going along with that plan anyway._

 _"Sir," Baba Yaga said, "we know that that world has some capacity to come here. What would happen if they came here found out you ordered the destruction of the school?"_

 _"I have nothing to worry about on that front," Grimm replied. "I'm well connected with the powers that be here: they would never extradite me over to the monsters to face any form of their justice."_

 _"Suppose the monsters don't care about extradition," Baba Yaga countered. "Suppose they find out you're behind the destruction of the school and decide to take matters into their hands, claws and tentacles."_

 _"Riiiiiight," Grimm said awkwardly as he thought this over and decided that there were other, less risky ways to handle Raven. "New plan: let's not do that."_

(End flashback)

...

Raven stood gobsmacked as she took in this story. _Every time I think he can't be more of a fascist dick, he proves me wrong,_ Raven thought.

"I don't know," Baba Yaga continued, "if you pushed him into this by your actions on Legacy Day or that he's always been this crazy and just did a better job of hiding it. Either way, I don't care: he needs to be stopped before he decides to do something that I can't talk him out of. I can't do anything to stop him directly because he has a ring that's been enchanted to be tied to my magic. At a moment's notice, he can revoke my powers and then my parole. That would be fairy bad because not only would it prevent me from helping you indirectly but I know that bitch Morgan Le Fey would love nothing better than to take my place as Grimm's right hand sorceress."

Raven shuddered at this thought. She had King Arthur's evil sorceress half-sister for History of Evil Spells and fairy much didn't want her to take Baba Yaga's place.

"Besides," Baba Yaga continued, "if anything really bad happened to your rebellion, it could affect Ginger, my great-niece (1)."

"Whatever your reasons, I thank you for any help you'll give," Raven said. "Both of you," she said while looking at Duchess. "Now this thing I had in mind involves some small figurines that I don't have on me right now. Also, you would have to do this in front of the Dremorangers. That's what we call this group, long story. Is that going to be a problem?"

"No," Baba Yaga answered. "I'll use an illusion spell to disguise myself so my assistance remains our little secret."

"Agreed. While we're on the subject of you helping indirectly, would you bringing over some of my friends from Monster High count?"

"Yes."

"Hexcellent," Raven said. "I'll share details with you later. Is there anything else?"

 _Not right now,_ Duchess thought, planning to act on her suspicions about Meiling later.

…

Later that afternoon, Raven's group gathered by Sparrow's treehouse in the forrest near the school. Raven went over to Finelope and grabbed a small bag she had brought from the dojo.

"We'll be having a special guest joining us today," Raven said and the group was joined by a woman in her mid-40s wearing a black cloak with silvery hair. This was actually Baba Yaga in disguise but that was not what Raven was going to tell everyone else. "This is Selene. She was a friend of my mother's: or as much as people like her could have friends. She's going to help with something that I think might give the Dremorangers' powers a bit more uumph."

Raven reached into the bag and used her magic to levitate five small figurines in front of her. Each figurine was carved to represent a different animal: shark, rhino, eagle, crocodile and tortoise.

"When my mom worked," Raven continued, "on what Apple and I would later adapt into the the ritual we used to create the Dremorangers, she sealed five Dremora spirits into these totem statues in an attempt to force them into powering her evil Sentai team. After my mother was ... stopped, I used my magic to undo the seals. Even though that was years ago, the binding spells used were so strong that there is still a connection between these totems and the spirits they once sealed. What I want Selene to do is use that connection to beseech the spirits to add their power to what the Dremorangers already have."

'Selene' didn't know if this would work but was greatly looking forward to trying. It wasn't everyday that she got to work directly with a previously unknown application of magic.

"You should transform," Selene said to the Dremorangers, "gather in a circle and sit on the ground."

"Spirit Unity," all five Dremorangers called out, changing them into their suits. They sat on the ground around the five totems.

"Put your hands over the totems," Selene instructed, "and close your eyes." The Dremorangers did as they were told and Selen began chanting.

...

About a minute later, Dremora Blue was standing upright with no memory of getting up. Even stranger, he looked around and saw that he was now in a different part of woods with no one else around.

"What the hex?" D. Blue said aloud. "I hope this means Raven's plan is working because otherwise something is fairy wrong with me."

D. Blue looked around and spotted a monster standing about ten feet away from him. This monster looked like a large, humanoid tortoise with muscular limbs and a large shell on it's back.

"Are you a spirit that used to be in one of those totems?" D. Blue asked. The tortoise creature nodded yes.

...

"That answers one question," Dremora Green said in front a humanoid crocodile monster that was covered in green scales and had a long tail.

...

"But where are we?" Dremora Red ask. She was facing a humanoid eagle monster with large wings and two blades on each hand that were about a foot long each.

" _We are inside your soul,"_ the eagle said in a low growl that was mystically translated into human speech.

...

"Not sure how I feel about that," Dremora Yellow said to a hulking humanoid grey rhino that he was talking to. "Do you know why we called you?"

" _Yes,"_ the rhino replied. " _And we will help you depending on you prove yourself to us."_

 _..._

"I take it that means we're going to fight," Dremora Pink said to a humanoid blue shark monster. This monster was not as large as the others and it wielded a large blue boomerang made to resemble a fish's fin that had a bladed edge along most of it. "Let's do this," she said to the shark.

...

The tortoise charged D. Blue after he accepted the challenge.

 _Based on his size,_ Dexter began thinking, _the direct approach would not be the best tactic. But what would work_? D. Blue leapt out of the way, rolled a bit and then stood up. The lumbering reptile slowly turned to face him. _I think I've got something._

The tortoise charged at D. Blue again. He sidestepped to the left, summoned his Hawk Mace and struck the tortoise's left knee. He then delivered another swing to the creature's chest that caused some spark damage and put it slightly off-balance. The tortoise countered by trying to lash out at D. Blue but he evaded the blow.

D. Blue moved to get behind the tortoise. He was planning to get an opening while the tortoise spun around to him but instead, the tortoise did a sort of backwards tackle that hit D. Blue with its shell. The blow caused some spark damage and made D. Blue stagger a bit. The tortoise turned around to face D. Blue, giving him time to regain his footing.

The tortoise punched at D. Blue but he evaded and smacked the tortoise's left knee once again with his mace. He followed through with another smack to the tortoise's chest. Due to the damage to its knee, this blow caused the tortoise to fall to the ground. D. Blue raised his mace and delivered a powerful blow to the tortoise's chest, causing spark damage. He delivered another blow and the tortoise countered by punching him in the knee, causing him to fall down.

D. Blue decided to roll on the ground to get away from the tortoise. D. Blue got about twenty feet away and got back on his feet in the time it took the tortoise to get back up. D. Blue dismissed his mace and called out his bow. He pulled back the bow string which caused an arrow to appear and fired. The arrow hit the tortoise, causing very little damage. D. Blue fired again and the arrow hit its mark while the tortoise charged. The tortoise spun in place and began walking towards D. Blue backwards so that his shell blocked any projectile.

 _Well played,_ Dexter internally complimented. He ran to get to the side of the tortoise and when they were parallel, the tortoise noticed D. Blue's new position and stopped to redirect his path. D. Blue shot another arrow at the tortoise's left leg, the blow causing it to stagger for a bit. D. Blue shot two more arrows at the tortoise's chest before it resumed charging.

D. Blue dismissed the bow, brought back his mace and sidestepped the tortoise. He struck the tortoise's left knee again, causing it to cry out in pain. D. Blue felt emboldened by this and delivered a powerful blow to the tortoise's head. The blow combined with the injured knee caused the tortoise to ball backwards. D. Blue raised his mace and delivered another blow to the tortoise's chest.

" _You win,"_ the tortoise said, admitting defeat.

…

Author's notes: (1) In some versions of Hansel and Gretel, Baba Yaga is the witch with the gingerbread house so this is my way of referencing that.


	5. Chapter 5

Dremora Green summoned his bow and shot an arrow at the crocodile. It was only a glancing shot as the crocodile attempted to dodge. The crocodile countered by firing a green blast of energy from its mouth that D. Green evaded by crouching down and shot another arrow that hit.

The crocodile charged as D. Green shot another arrow. When it got close, D. Green switched the bow for the Grizzly Axe. The crocodile attempted to slash at D. Green but he dodged countered with a slash from his axe. The crocodile slashed D. Green at the same time he slashed with the Grizzly Axe.

The crocodile tried to deliver another slash but D. Green blocked it with his axe blade and followed through with a strong shoulder tackle that sent the croc stumbling back a few steps. D. Green took this opportunity to make two powerful axe strikes, each causing decent spark damage.

The croc spun around and D. Green's legs with its tail, making him fall to the ground. The croc went to slash at D. Green while he was down but he rolled out of the way. The croc closed in on D. Green and since he didn't have time to get back he slashed at the croc's knee with his axe, causing the croc to stagger. D. Green got part of the way back up and tackled the croc to the ground. He then got on top of the croc punched it in the face two times.

The croc raised both its knees and knocked D. Green off. He then sommersaulted and stood up while the croc staggered to its feet. D. Green went up and delivered an axe swing to the croc's head, followed by another swing to the chest. The croc tried to swipe at D. Green with its claws but he evaded and countered with another axe swing.

The croc shot another energy from its mouth that hit D. Green in the chest, causing great spark damage. The croc took this opening and bit D. Green's right shoulder. He fought through the pain and punched the croc's head with his left hand two times. This caused to release its bite and D. Green hit it in its head with his axe. The croc raised his hands and motioned for D. Green to stop.

" _You win_ ," the croc said.

...

The eagle monster Dremora Red was facing flew into the sky and charged at her. D. Red dropped to the ground to evade the eagle and slashed her dagger as the eagle flew over her. This happened two more times.

After the third time, D. Red rushed towards the eagle and slashed at it a few times. The eagle scored a slash with one of its blades but D. Red evaded another blow. The eagle then used its flight ability to charge at D. Red at point blank range, which caused some spark damage and sent D. Red tumbling backwards on the ground.

The eagle went to slash D. Red but she rolled out of the way. She then got back on her feet, slashed at the eagle two times and evaded a counterattack.

This went on for a few minutes: D. Red slashing at the eagle while staying on the move. The eagle got in a few hits but D. Red got in at least three times as many. Eventually, the eagle raised its hands in defeat.

" _You win,"_ the eagle said.

...

The rhino monster charged at Dremora Yellow, planning to ram him with its horn.

 _That thing's too bulky to fight head-on, Daring thought. I'll have to borrow a page from Raven's book and fight indirectly._

D. Yellow summoned his Lion Gauntlets, sidestepped the charge and hit the rhino in its shoulder. The rhino spun to face D. Yellow but he sidestepped again and delivered a punch to the rhino's face. The rhino attempted to deliver a punch of its own but D. Yellow avoided it and punched the rhino its chest.

The rhino went for another charge and got a grazing hit as D. Yellow failed to completely dodge. The rhino tried to land an elbow blow that was evaded. D. Yellow landed another punch to the rhino's chest but the rhino countered by grabbing that arm and punching D. Yellow.

Shit, Daring thought, realizing that he needed to regain the mobility advantage to have a chance. The rhino worked in another punch and D. Yellow then punched the arm holding him in the elbow, causing the rhino to release his grip. D. Yellow then used his new freedom to sidestep to the rhino's side where he had the injured elbow and delivered a punch to the rhino's head.

The rhino couldn't strike with its injured arm and took another punch in the time it took it to face D. Yellow. Once again, D. Yellow sidestepped the blow and delivered one of his own. This continued for a few minutes as D. Yellow wore his opponent down. The rhino then signaled that it didn't want to continue fighting.

" _You win,"_ the rhino conceded.

...

Dremora Pink threw her Vixey Yo-yo at the shark monster, who blocked it with his arm and countered by throwing his bladed boomerang. The boomerang hit D. Pink as she brought back the yo-yo, causing some spark damage. The shark magically teleported the boomerang back to his hand and attempted to slash D. Pink but she sidestepped the blow.

D. Pink threw her yo-yo, wrapped it around one of the shark's ankles and yanked it hard, causing the shark to trip forward. D. Pink pulled the yo-yo back and then brought it down on the shark. She tried to repeat this but the shark rolled out of the way and countered by throwing his boomerang that got a grazing hit at D. Pink's left shoulder.

The shark got back up and brought back his boomerang. D. Pink delivered another yo-yo strike to the shark's chest and then brought it back to send it out from the shark's other side. The shark sliced the yo-yo's cord as it hit again.

 _What do I do, What do I do?_ Briar asked herself, panicked at seeing her yo-yo severed and rembering how bad that went for her when it happened against Duchess. _If I bring the two ends of the cord together, they'll magically reattach like last time. Gotta go for it._

D. Pink summoned her bow and tried to strike the shark with it but the shark parried it with its boomerang blade. She kicked the her yo-yo from the side hard enough to send it flying towards a nearby tree that it then bounced off of. D. Pink turned away from the shark and paid for it by taking a slash from behind. She dismissed her bow, caught the yo-yo in mid-air and used its magic to reattach its cord. Unfortunately, she took another slash while this happened.

D. Pink sidestepped while turning to face the shark and evaded a slash. They were close to eachother so D. Pink threw out the yo-yo in a straight path, causing some spark damage. She did this again while the shark slashed her with the boomerang blade. She sidestepped another slash threw the yo-yo out in arcing path. The yo-yo scored a solid hit but the shark slashed the cord before D. Pink could bring it back.

 _Can't afford to leave myself open again,_ Briar thought, passing on reconnecting the Vixey Yo-yo. D. Pink brought back her bow and shot an arrow at the shark's head, causing it to stagger. _Good thing we're too close to miss,_ Briar thought, aware that her archery skills needed much work.

D. Pink got in another up close shot and the shark made another slash, which she dodged by quickly stepping back. D. Pink smacked the shark in the head with her bow but the shark caught the bow with its teeth and snapped it by twisting his neck.

 _Shit,_ Briar thought at being disarmed but decided to not let this deter her. _I don't care how guaranteed this overgrown piece of seafood's victory is, he's gonna have to work for it._

D. Pink punched the shark but it didn't have much effect. The shark slashed her and tried to make another one that D. Pink dodged. She tried to kick him from behind but it was ineffective. The shark pushed her to the ground and just stood there rather than move to strike its opponent while she was down.

" _I surrender_ ," the shark said.

"What?" D. Pink asked in profound confusion as she got up. "Not that I'm complaining, but why are giving up when you're about to win?"

" _This fight wasn't about winning,"_ the shark began. _"It was about you showing me what you've got and while your skill requires more work your fighting spirit is in top form. More importantly, I was going to give you some of my power anyway. I know that you want to help Raven, the one who freed me from imprisonment in that totems. As humans would say, I owe her one."_

"Thank you," D. Pink said. "How'd you know that I'm doing this to help Raven?"

" _We are currently in something of a merged state right now,_ " the shark said. _"I know a few things about you because of that: like your feelings for Raven."_

"Raven's just a friend," D. Pink said in an awkward and unconvincing denial.

" _But you want to be more than that, don't you?"_ The shark asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes," D. Pink admitted. "But there's so much going on right now and she probably doesn't like me back that way. Plus, as I learned from Duchess, telling another girl that you have such feelings could make her want to sever ties with you."

" _I still think you should tell her,"_ the shark said, " _but it might not be a bad idea to think carefully as you do so."_

 _..._

Back in the real world, the Dremorangers stirred awake. They stood up got out of the circle they were in. They focused on what just happened and this caused new weapons to appear.

"All right," Dremora Blue said with a thick, round shield strapped to his left arm that resembled a tortoise shield. "This Tortoise Shield will go great with my Hawk Mace."

"I'm happy you like your new thing, bro," D. Yellow said, now wearing a pair of heavy metallic boots, the front each boot stylized to look like a rhino's head with a large curved, spike for the horn. "How are these Rhino Boots supposed to help me in battle?"

"You can stomp on someone's foot with them," Raven suggested. "That seems like it would hurt. Or kick them in the shin with the spike."

"That will definitely work," D. Green said while holding his new weapon. It was a large, circular bazooka-like object that he was aiming while holding one end over his shoulder. "I can't wait to see what this Croc Cannon does against whatever's got."

 _Now that is a firearm,_ Finelope thought longingly, suddenly feeling that her spell rifle was a little on the puny side.

"Want to trade?" Finelope offered, hoping she didn't come off as desperate.

"I'm good," D. Green responded. Meanwhile, D. Pink was doing some practice swings with her new weapon: the same boomerang that the shark dremora spirit had used against her.

"I'm going to enjoy using this Fin Blade Boomerang," D. Pink said with glee. "Plus, I'm glad that I didn't get the lame animal spirit of the group again. What did you get, Cerise?"

"This," D. Red said as she had an eagle made of reddish energy perching on her raised arm. "And this is what the Talon Striker does." The Talon Striker took off from D. Red's arm and flew around for a while before dissipating.

All of Spirit Beast Sentai Dremoranger was hexstatic at how these additions to their arsenal would help them against what would come.


	6. Chapter 6

Shortly after the Dremorangers had experimented with their new weapons, Duchess spoke up.

"Everyone gather round," she said to the group and everyone did just that.

"What's going on Duchess?" Sparrow asked.

"Meiling is not who she says she is," Duchess accused as she glared at well-toned Asian teen.

 _Shit_ , Raven thought while Duchess brought up something on her phone. "According to this editing, Meiling and Michigo are the same person." Duchess started passing her phone around and everyone who had seen it had shocked hexpressions. "Also, I 'accidently' bumped into Michigo earlier today, grabbed her arm and noticed some fairy un-princessly like muscle tone under her kimono."

"I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding," Daring said, the Dremorangers having de-transformed for this conversation. While he'd only met Michigo a few times, he did not want to learn that someone had been impersonating a Royal under his nose. "We'll just find out where Michigo is right now and put her next to Meiling to prove they're different people."

"That's going to be quite impossible," Meiling began with a determined expression. "Duchess is absolutely right about us being the same person. I've spent the last few months attending your school under the assumed identity of Princess Michigo, daughter of Himiko, queen of Yamatai island."

"That raises several questions," Dexter said while everyone else was still processing. "The cheifest being why and how did you do this with Headmaster Grimm knowing?"

"The answer to both questions," Meiling continued, "is that I wanted to go to this school and doing so while pretending to be someone else was the only way Grimm would allow it."

"That answers my questions but still leaves much to be hexplained," Dexter said awkwardly.

"Indeed," Meiling agreed. "Let us start with a proper re-introduction: my name is Fa Meiling, daughter of Fa Mulan, China's first and greatest warrior."

"Holy crap," Duchess hexlaimed.

"Does that mean something to you?" Briar asked.

"Oh yeah," Duchess answered. "I once poked my head into this bookstore in Asia Town and bought a book that was a collection of several Asian stories, including an abridged version of her mother's. Here's the short version: her mother was an only child and when a draft was issued, she impersonated a man to take the place of her elderly father. Once enlisted, she served and climbed the ranks in the army while successfully unexposed for twelve years."

"That's the key points," Meiling replied. "As for my attending the school in disguise, Grimm offered an invition for several Asian fairy teens to come here and held diversify the school. Most turned him down, including the real Michigo, so when I hexpressed interest in attending he agreed on the condition I did so as Michigo. I agreed because posing as someone else would give me some hexperience with subterfuge that I would need for my story. And it appears I really need such hexperience," Meiling finished with a dour expression.

"If it makes you feel any better," Duchess said, "your performance as Michigo didn't raise any suspicion: it was your cover as Meiling, the girl who worked at her uncle's butcher shop but was never seen there, where you slipped up."

"I didn't think I needed on that part of my cover," Meiling admitted.

"Is there anything else you want to say to Meiling," Raven glared at Duchess.

"Oh right," Duchess agreed and then took a deep breath as she readied herself and faced Meiling. "I'm sorry for forcing you to hexpose yourself. In my defense, quite a few things about you seemed fairy suspicious and the last time people did suspicious things around me, it ended like this."

Duchess changed into the Cygnus Zodiart to illustrate her point.

"Also," she continued, "and I haven't had reason to bring this up yet, because of this happening to me I can't turn into a swan like I'm supposed to in order to complete my story."

"Why am I only hearing this now?" Raven asked in slight anger.

"Because it's embarrassing," Duchess answered as she changed back. "If word of this got to the other Royals, I'd be made a pariah for not being able to follow my destiny. There are quite a few hextremist Royals who look down on those who don't follow thier destinies: right Daring?"

"Heh heh," Daring said awkwardly, realizing that she wasn't wrong. "Have you told Headmaster Grimm this?"

"I did," Duchesss replied. "And according to him, any punishment for Evan will have to wait because Evan is, in his words, helping him with something."

"Most likely," Raven chimed in, "Evan's anti-me strike force. Can't say I'm surprised to learn that Grimm is backing Evan's plan but why haven't you told anyone about this until now?"

"Same reason you had to trick Grimm," Duchess retorted to Raven, "into incriminating himself about how he brought you back from Monster High: with my word against his, mine would lose easily."

"We believe you," Briar said and other people in the group nodded yes and also agreed.

"We are also," Apple countered, "willing to put ourselves at risk to help Raven out of a dangerous situation: we're not hexactly unbiased third parties."

"More importantly," Duchess continued, "if I tried and failed to speak out against Grimm, it could go badly for me, hexscepially if it pisses off the people over his head. And just so we're clear, I've only told you all this to make it up to Meiling for forcing her to reveal her secret." Duchess then faced Meiling and walked up to her. "I am sorry about that and hope I can get to know you better. Aside from you being from a fascinating story, you're the only teenaged female Asian bodybuilder I'll most likely ever meet."

"I'll need to think about that last part more," Meiling began, "but I understand why you thought I was up to something sinister so I have no hard feelings about that."

"Is there anything else anyone's been holding out on?" Ashlynn asked.

 _Yes,_ Briar and Cerise thought.

"Yes," Kamen Rider Star Knight said and everyone looked at her. She dispelled her armor in a flash of silvery light and in her place now stood...

"Darling!?" Daring said aloud in shock in at seeing his sister all of a sudden. Many questions ran through his head but he decided to go with the first that came to mind. "Since when are you a Kamen Rider?"

"Since last Saturday," Darling answered. "Raven did some stuff that let me rearrange my magic to form rider armor."

"Why did you do that?" Daring asked Raven with a scowl and almost tangible scorn.

"She asked nicely," Raven replied, not in the least bit intimidated. Daring then turned back to Darling.

"Why would you want to a Kamen Rider?" Daring asked with restraint.

"I don't want to become a damsel in distress," Darling replied sternly. "I want to be a warrior, like you. Or her," Darling pointed to Raven.

"But you're not supposed to become a warrior," Daring shot back. "You're supposed to honor our family's tradition of doing what you're supposed to."

"And as my brother," Darling began with a scowl of her own, "you're supposed to care more about me than tradition."

"That... is complicated," Daring answered awkwardly, torn between loyalty to tradition and his sister, who he still loved (mostly). "Do you know what'll happen if mom and dad find out about this?"

"I actually had a dream about that once," Darling said with a forlorn look. "They found out, mom was heartbroken while dad was furious. In order to get me back to being a damsel in distress, dad shackled me to a wall in the dungeon and beat me with a rod in order to give me a re-education in helplessness."

Everyone looked shocked and disgusted to hear about this disturbing dream Darling had.

"Dad wouldn't really do that," Daring said once the shock wore off.

"I find that easy for you to say," Darling countered, "since you're the favored son and because of that, think highly of our parents. That's why I told Dexter about me long before this."

"What?" Daring said, feeling more than a little insulted.

"It's nothing personal," Darling continued. "Due to several factors, like us being twin siblings and living in your shadow, I like and trust him more than you."

"That seems personal," Daring said with hurt evident in his voice. He rubbed the back of his head as he began thinking over all the stuff he just heard. "I'm going for a run." Daring then set off to go deeper into the woods.

"I'm going to follow him from a respectful distance," Cerise said. "Make sure he doesn't get lost or fall into a ditch." She went after Daring.

"Oh shit," Duchess said in alarm.

"Yes, this could cause problems," Raven agreed.

"Not that," Duchess angrily disagreed. "We just had our little sharefest in front of Cedar, the girl that can't keep a secret due to her inability to lie."

"That's not as bad as it sounds," Cedar said. "I can keep secrets pretty well. I knew about Hunter and Ashlynn before everyone else did."

"Really? So did I," Duchess said with a smile, amused that she and Cedar had something in common. "Just to be sure, I should try to share with you some of my hexpertise with lying so you don't share anything you just heard."

"Okay," Cedar agreed, understanding the necessity. There were sounds from the White Knight armor as the chest opened up and small stair cases came from the thighs. Jillian stepped out of it and ripped the duct tape off her mouth.

"That better be the last time I do that," Jillian said and then noticed everyone giving her weird looks. "Hi everybody," Jillian waved.

...

While this went on, Evan's cabal had gathered at the same quarry as earlier.

"I would like to introduce you all to our new allies," Evan said the other members as he stood in front of three pseudo-yummies. He took out three Astro Switches and tossed them to the pseudo-yummies, who pressed the buttons and changed into zodiarts.

The first zodiart was based on the constellation Horologium, which represented a pendulum clock. This zodiart was a rather muscular male figure brown and grey humanoid with a rough outline of the constellation on its body. There were small a clock faces on its shoulders and it was wielding a chain with a cyclindrical weight on the end (meant to be a large pendulum although it looked like this one could wielded like a flail).

The second was based on the constellation Chamaeleon, representing a chameleon. It was a green and beige reptilian creature with a coiled tail like object on the back of its head and also had an outline of its constellation.

The last one was based on the constellation Lupus, representing a wolf. It was a lean wolf-man creature with claws, black fur and a similar constellation outline.

"And now for names," Evan said with some glee. "I'm thinking Penn," he pointed to the Horologium zodiart, "Camille," he pointed to the Chamaeleon one, "and Wally," he pointed at the Lupus one. Evan then faced his allies. "Commence training," Evan said and everyone did just that.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's notes: I did a Darise one-shot set in between the last chapter and this one.

…

After the revelations about Meiling and Darling then Daring running off, Raven got a hext message from Baba Yaga requesting a meeting between just them. Raven summoned Demona, hopped on and headed off to the patch of woods Baba Yaga specified as their meeting spot. A few minutes later, Raven arrived at the spot and heard something strange from above. She looked up and saw what looked like a giant mortar and pestle flying overhead with Baba Yaga riding on top of it. The mortar and pestle set down in front from Raven and Baba Yaga disembarked with a wide smile on her face while carrying a bag strapped around her shoulders.

"I really need to take this thing out more," Baba Yaga said excitedly. "I forgot how much fun that was." (1) Raven rode up to her and also disembarked.

"I'd heard you this but have never seen it before," Raven said. "I'm glad I did. So what did you want to talk about?"

"I have another way to help you," Baba Yaga said as she her eyes drifted over to Demona. "And it has to do with your hellsteed mare. How much do you know about other animals like her?"

"Not much," Raven began. "Hellsteeds like Demona inhabitat an infernal lower dimension. Sometimes a magic user or warrior is able to call one forth and if the steed feels that the person is worthy, it will decide to serve them. It rarely happens in this part of the world though. And while hellsteeds are usually horses, that's not usually the case."

"Correct," Baba Yaga said. "Hellsteeds have been known to be elk, bears, large cats and in at least one case I know of, a giant spider."

"And people say that a giant flying mortar and pestle and the hut on giant chicken legs are odd forms of transportation," Raven joked.

"Indeed," Baba Yaga sneered, remembering all the times people had told her that. "More importantly, hellsteeds have an ability that manifests when there's a strong bond between and them and the one they've chosen. This ability lets the hellsteed transform into a humanoid form it, enabling to serve its chosen as both mount and comrade."

"And Demona can do this?" Raven asked.

"Yes," Baba Yaga answered. "But not at the moment. The bond between steed and rider must be incredibly strong and takes years to develop. I have a method in mind to make the bond happen instantly but it will be thoroughly unpleasant."

"So will whatever Evan has in mind for me," Raven replied. "What's the plan?"

"There is no easy way to put this," Baba Yaga said with great apprension and then took a deep breath. "I'm going to pinch off small parts of yours and Demona's souls then swap them to make the bond occur."

"Okay," Raven said awkwardly as she rubbed the back of her head. "That's not what I was hexpecting. Will it hurt?"

"Like nothing you have ever hexperienced," Baba Yaga said with almost tangible regret, "and hopefully will never hexperience again. From what I've researched, the sensation is similar to having a limb severed." Raven audibly gulped at hearing this. "On the plus side, the pain will subside instantly after the switch is made so it will only last for about two seconds."

"That's better," Raven said, still fairy nervous.

"Unfortunately that's where the good news ends," Baba Yaga continued. "Due to the pain to being metaphysical in nature, anestesia will have no effect. The only thing I can give you for the pain is this wooden rod to bite down on," Baba Yaga reached into her bag and took out a cloth covered rod. "Though I will give Demona a powerful sedative to make sure she doesn't thrash around and try to trample me for I'll put her through."

"What do you think?" Raven asked Demona. She looked into the hellsteed's eyes and saw a look of determined compassion, signifying that Demona was willing do anything to help her. "Let's do this," Raven said with steady determination to Baba Yaga.

"First thing's first," Baba Yaga said as she reached into the bag, took out a large syringe and injected Demona with it. "It's going to take a few minutes for it take full effect."

Raven waited awkwardly to get started on what would most likely be the most painful hexperience of her life. Baba Yaga handed the rod to Raven, who put it in her mouth and got ready to bite down. While this happened, Demona got drowsy as the sedative kicked in.

"Here we go," Baba Yaga said. She phased her hands into both of them and made contact with their souls. She removed the pieces she needed, causing Demona to cry out and Raven to bite down. Baba Yaga quickly removed her hands performed the switch, causing the pain to subside and Demona to stop crying out.

"Are you okay Raven?" Baba Yaga asked and only got a blank stare in response. "Shit, you've gone into shock. I'm not sure what to do about this."

Raven took a few deep breaths as she snapped out of her current state.

"That really sucked," Raven said.

"You had me worried there," Baba Yaga said in relief. "How do you feel?"

"There's still some lingering discomfort but I'm much better," Raven answered then went up close to Demona. "Are you okay?"

Demon neighed in response that seemed to indicate that she was also not great but much better than earlier. Raven then leaned in and hugged Demona's neck, feeling strangely close to the hellsteed mare.

 _It must have worked,_ Raven thought and then turned to Baba Yaga.

"I think we'll wait till tomorrow to try that transformation thing," Raven said. "I can tell that like me, Demona's also feeling some leftover aches."

"Very well," Baba Yaga replied and then went back to her flying mortar and pestle. "I'm heading back to the school. Contact me if something happens."

"Of course. And thank you for all your help," Raven said with gratitude.

"You're fairy welcome," Baba Yaga said and then flew off back to the school. Raven got on Demona to start heading back to where the rest of her strike force was training.

"Take your time," Raven said as she got Demona into a slow trot.

...

Over ten minutes later, Raven had gotten back to where the others were. Everyone stopped what they were doing and went over to her as Raven got off Demona. Once off, Raven summoned a demonic portal in the ground and Demona jumped through it and went back to the infernal dimension she called home. The ones who got closest to Raven were Apple, Dremora Pink and Dremora Blue who reverted back in flashes of colored of light back to Briar and Dexter.

"What happened?" Apple asked in concern, noticing that Raven was in slight pain.

"Long story," Raven answered. "Short version: I met with Selene privately and had part of my soul hexchanged with a part of Demona's so she can gain a new ability."

"What?!" Briar and Dexter said in shock as they went up right next to Raven.

"That was hextremely dangerous," Dexter said in concern.

"And hextremely painful," Raven added. "I'm mostly fine now hexcept for a dull ache throughout my entire being. I think I'm gonna call it a day."

"Yes, you do that," Briar said as she put a reassuring hand on Raven's shoulder. "We're doing this because we all care about you: keep that in mind next time you decide to take such a huge risk." Briar and Raven then gazed into eachother's eyes while Briar's eyes showed the depths of her concern: depths that could easily come from someplace greater than friendship.

"Yes, all of us care about you," Dexter said almost affectionately as he placed a reassuring hand of his own.

 _Damn it Dexter, we were having a moment,_ both Raven and Briar thought.

Despite Dexter's interruption, Raven was feeling elated that there was now a chance Briar returned her feelings. But Raven was also regretting what she going to do to ensure that there would be no more future complications from Dexter. Raven began walking back to the school and shortly later, Daring and Cerise had rejoined the group.

"Where's Raven going?" Daring asked.

"Back to school," Briar answered and then recounted the soul switch for them.

"Damn," Daring said, his respect for Raven going up a notch. "I don't think I'd be willing to go through with something like that." He saw Star Knight and went over to her. "I have something I want to say but can you change back first?"

Darling complied and dispelled her armor in a flash of silvery light.

"I want to say," Daring began, "that while I'm not sure how I feel about you wanting to be a warrior but if you want break the news to mom and dad, I will back you up."

"Why?" Darling asked, surprised by her brother's change of heart.

"It took a while," Daring continued, "but I realized that you are more important than the rules."

Darling was immensely touched by this and hugged her brother.

Everyone who needed to transform did so and resumed training.

...

A few hours later, the strike team finished for the day and went back to school. Dexter had gotten a hext message from Raven asking for him to come to her room. He went to her room, knocked on the door and was welcomed inside.

"What is it Raven?" Dexter asked.

"I noticed that you seem to care about me a lot," Raven said with a sad look, regretting what was to come. "By that I mean, I think you like me as more than a friend."

"What if I do?" Dexter asked awkwardly. Between Raven discovering his feelings and her expression, he did not feel confident about where this was going.

"Then you would be fairy disappointed," Raven said and then took a deep breath. "I've been going through a phase of personal discovery and I'm like eighty percent sure that I'm gay, so there's no way what you want to happen would happen."

"Oh," Dexter said, crushed to hear this news.

"I'm sorry to bring this up," Raven continued, "but I felt like I needed to nip any potential for complications in the bud." Raven then had a fairy awkward expression on her face. "Can I still count on your help?"

"Of course," Dexter said. "Do you want to talk about which girls we think are a hot?"

"Maybe later," Raven answered.

Dexter left, took out his Mirrorphone and hexted Cupid, asking for an in person meeting. They met up in Castleteria for dinner and sat down at a table after getting food.

"What's wrong Dexter?" Cupid asked. Dexter then gave a summary of his recent conversation while Raven.

"That's unfortunate," Cupid said sympathetically while restraining her inner glee at how she now how the go ahead to pursue her own feelings for Dexter. "But I'm sure other opportunities will present themselves in time." Cupid said that last part with a tone that was more alluring than she intended.

Dexter got the impression that Cupid was such an opportunity and decided to conduct a test. He took off his glasses to clean them, causing Cupid to smile widely. This made Dexter decide that he wanted to pursue Cupid but this presented another problem.

"Umm," Dexter stammered, unsure how hexactly he should proceed.

"Not sure what to say?" Cupid asked. Dexter nodded yes. "I know hexactly how that feels. I'm sure the words will come in time."

Cupid walked right up to Dexter and held his hand. Dexter returned her grip, feeling instantly relaxed about what would happen with Cupid.

….

Author's notes: (1) I've heard that some stories involving Baba Yaga have her flying on something like this so I threw it in.


	8. Chapter 8

It was Wednesday morning and the school had gathered for breakfast in the castleteria. Many didn't notice this but some of the students who rarely associated had gotten together for breakfast. Duchess was sitting down with Cedar, Cerise and a few other Rebels while Darling was eating with Finelope and Michigo.

Darling and Meiling had hit it off really well after sharing their secrets yesterday and became quick friends. They couldn't talk about their desires to be warriors at the school where they could be overheard so they talked about more innocent subjects.

As for Duchess's group, Duchess was attempting to share her hexpertise at lying with Cedar to see if it could overcome the magic that compelled honesty from the wood girl. Hooper noticed this and was curious if there was deeper meaning to this.

"So you've noticed that too," Lizzie said. She had sat down at a table with Hooper, Blondie and Finelope. Basically, their cabal minus Evan who was too socially toxic to publicly associate with them.

"Yeah," Hopper admitted. "She was really upset with Evan when she walked out on us. Do you think she might have sided agaisnt Evan with Raven's forces?"

"Unlikely," Lizzie answered. "Duchess and Raven hate each other's guts so any attempt to work together is doomed to failure. Besides, why would Duchess want to go after Evan at all?"

 _Duchess is far from the most open person in the world_ , Hopper countered mentally. _She could have reasons but be keeping them to yourself._

"Did Duchess ever tell you what happened between her and Justine?" Hopper asked.

"No," Lizzie answered. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Hopper lied, deciding that Duchess might have sided with the Rebels for her own reasons.

...

After classes that day, Duchess received a hext message from Hopper asking for an in person meeting away from the school. Duchess told the rest of Raven's strike force that she'd join them for training after dealing with a personal matter. She arrived at the spot Hopper mentioned: a patch of woods far from where Raven and everyone else was. She arrived at the spot and saw Hopper there.

"Hello Duchess," Hopper said. "Thanks for coming."

"Just so we're clear," Duchess began with crossed arms and a sour hexpression, "I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt assuming that this isn't some kind of trap planned by Evan."

"And I thank you for that," Hopper said. "I know it's not easy for you to trust people: hexscecially after how opening yourself up to Justine went. Before we continue, I want to do this," Hopper took out his Gaia Memory and pressed its switch.

 **Hopper**

He inserted the Memory into the port on his arm and changed into his insectoid form as the Hopper Dopant.

"Why do you do that?" Duchess asked nervously, starting to think that her earlier theory about this being trap was correct.

"When I'm like this," Hopper began calmly, "it prevents the magic stuff that turns me into a frog when I get tongue-tied."

"Oh," Duchess said, understanding his reason. "That's fine but I'm going to change as well." Duchess spun in place and transformed into Cygnus zodiart. "Now what did you want this meeting in the first place?"

"I saw you having breakfast with Cedar," Hopper said, "and some other Rebels this morning. I'm wondering if you've joined them to... I don't know, get back at Evan for reasons you're keeping to yourself. If that's the case, I want you to hexplain yourself before I share my suspicions with the other people in Evan's gang."

"You know me so well," Duchess replied, slightly touched from Hopper's insight. "As for your question, yes: I have sided with the Rebels on this matter to enact revenge again Evan. As for the why behind that," Duchess paused as she prepared herself to share the truth, something she wasn't super familiar with. "When Evan did this to me," Duchess motioned over her zodiart form, "it changed how my magic worked. This replaced my ability to turn into a swan and without that,"

"You can't follow your destiny," Hopper finished for her, understanding Duchess's reasoning. "And if the other Royals found out, given how tense the political situation is, a good chunk of them would consider you as bad as a Rebel for being incapable of following your destiny." Hopper stopped to rub the back of his head and stutter random ally as he formulated his response.

"To make matters worse," Duchess continued, "I told Grimm about this and he's decided to put off punishing Evan until after this whole mess with Raven has been resolved."

"Damn," Hopper said sympathetically. "If Evan does succeed in making Raven pledge her destiny, Grimm will be so grateful that he'll just give Evan a slap on the wrist at worst."

"Yeah," Duchess agreed. "So I've decided to take matters into my own hands. My first plan was to feign allegiance with Evan to infiltrate his gang and wait for the best moment to strike. Unfortunately, Evan talked about reading our minds and I couldn't let him find out my true motives so I feigned outrage at the idea of him reading my mind and stormed out of there."

"How are you such a great liar?" Hopper asked in amazement. He recalled the events Duchess mentioned and would not have guessed what she was planning.

"Practice," Duchess calmly answered.

"Well, I've got a bit of a problem now," Hopper began awkwardly. "I was planning to make a heartfelt plea for you to put aside your issues with Evan and fight for the sense for the sense of tradition and stability that the Royal way represents but I don't feel like doing that anymore." Hopper took a deep breath as he thought about his next words.

"I understand why you're working with Raven," Hopper continued. "I hate Evan too but I'm putting that aside because I hate Raven even more. So it looks like this is another thing we have in common: picking our sides in this fight based on hatred and working with people we hate slightly less."

"Indeed," Duchess replied, deciding not to provoke Hopper by clarifiying that she was starting to hate Raven less as their collabaration went on.

"Maybe there's a way," Hopper said, "that we can arrange the situation so that Evan and Raven both lose."

"How so?" Duchess asked.

"I don't know," Hopper answered. "Maybe you sabotage Raven's forces so Evan can make her sign the storybook of legends and after he's succeeded with that, he'll lower his guard and then we beat the shit out of him."

"Tempting, but I'll have to pass," Duchess replied. "I'm starting to make some friends and on the Rebel side and I want to see where that goes. I'm kind of in the market for new friends after Lizzie and Faebelle f#*ked me in the back by siding with Evan on this."

"Right," Hopper conceded her point. "But to be fair, they don't know how much they've hurt you because you've kept the truth about that to yourself.

"Oh yeah," Duchess said in realization, having not previously considered that. "It wouldn't matter if I did: Lizzie needs to do what she thinks is best for Wonderland and Faebelle is too invested in the idea of getting back at Raven for their mother's past."

"You don't seem to be mad at me for siding with Evan," Hopper pointed out.

"Yeah, about that," Duchess began. "Are you certain that helping Evan is the only way for to cure your condition?"

"It's the only I can think of," Hopper said defensively. "Raven's put everyone's destiny in flux by not signing, not just her's and Apple's. I can get things back on track by helping Evan force Raven to sign."

"So you're worried that the girl," Duchess said, "who is supposed to love you despite your froggy appearance will not do so because she's not forced to by destiny."

"Huh," Hopper said as he put his hand on his chin began thinking things over. "If you are saying that maybe I don't need to secure my destiny by helping Evan ... you may be on to something. Plus, Blondie's been creeping the hex out of me with how she's been acting lately. I don't know if it's because her Gaia Memory isn't agreeing with her or something but I'm pretty sure it's somehow Evan's fault."

"So will you defect and join my side?" Duchess asked.

"I have a better idea: I can stay with Evan's side for now and keep taps on how's building his forces."

"What about that whole 'reading your mind thing' he can do?"

"He hasn't done it since the first time. Hopefully it's because he's worried about pissing off the allies he has left with repeated and painful mind probes."

"Hexcellent."

"I'll find some way to pass info back to you but I should really leave soon before the rest of Evan's gang gets suspicious."

"Before that, what do you say to a quick sparring match?"

"Challenge accepted," Hopper said.

Duchess conjured her bladed fans as Hopper ran towards her. Hopper tried kick her but Duchess evaded to the side and countered with slashes from both blades, causing spark damage. Hopper delivered two kicks then Duchess dodged the third and slashed with with her fans.

Duchess leapt backwards and twirled in mid-air to send feather projectiles at Hopper, who evaded all but the two of them. Duchess landed over five feet from her original position while Hopper charged and delivered a roundhouse kick while Duchess tried to regain her footing. The blow knocked Duchess back and gave Hopper an opening for another kick.

 _I can't believe Hopper is doing this good,_ Duchess thought as she dodged another kick and slashed him. While Duchess didn't hate Hopper at all, she was too prideful to accept defeat if it could be avoided. While she was internally steaming at this thought, she was surrounded by a white glow and disappeared, leaving everlasting white energy feathers behind. She instantly reappeared several feet behind Hopper.

 _Looks like those brightly colored dorks aren't the only ones who get power-ups,_ Duchess thought, remebering how the Dremorangers got new weapons yesterday. _This will be great for my rematch with Hunter, Briar and Cerise._

Duchess leapt, gliding along the ground and went past past Hopper as she delivered two slashes. When she stopped, she turned around and leapt past Hopper on his other side while delivering another strike. She leapt at him again but Hopper had figured out her strategy and was ready with a mighty kick that hit Duchess hard due to Hopper striking against her momentum.

Hopper followed through with another kick and Duchess teleported away. Hopper quickly looked around and found Duchess behind him just as she delivered two slashes. Hopper delivered two quick kicks then Duchess dodged the third and countered with a fan slash that only grazed Hopper as he almost dodged it.

"Time out," Hopper said and they stopped. "We shouldn't be out here much longer. Call it a draw?"

"Sure," Duchess answered. "You're really good."

"You too," Hopper replied. "I can't help but notice that those bladed fans you have look like ones from that Kung-fu movie I recommended to you."

"That's not a coincidence," Duchess said and then gave a short recap of how she got her fans.

"You're welcome," Hopper said with a grin, taking credit for providing the inspiration. "Goodbye for now."

Hopper and Duchess then went their separate ways and headed towards their respective groups.


	9. Chapter 9

While Duchess and Hopper had their heart to heart, Raven's strike force had gathered by Sparrow's tree house. Raven summoned the infernal portal in the ground that Demona leapt out of.

"Show me what you can do now," Raven said to her hellsteed. Demona was engulfed by a black and orange tinted flame that quickly subsided.

Demona was now in a humanoid form. Her body was mostly black with a grey midsection and patches on the forearms and shins. The most striking feature of her new form was her incredibly muscular thighs that ended in hooves. She had human like arms that were well-toned (but considerably less-so compared to her thighs). She also had a horse-like head with a horse tail like hair coming from the back in a ponytail that ended in the middle of her shoulder blades.

Demona neighed in enjoyment of this form and started doing a few practice kicks. She did one on a nearby thick tree that produced a resounding thud and made even the tallest branched shake.

"Cool," Rosabella said as she walked up to Raven from behind, carrying a small bag with her.

"What brings you here?" Raven asked.

"I've got something for Ramona," Rosabella replied. She went over to the wolf girl, got her attention and pulled a wooden stick with cloth wrapped several times around one end.

"A stick," Romana said in confusion. "This better not be your way of asking me to play fetch."

"Not even close," Rosabella said as she reached into her bag. She took out a small bottle and put the contents on the cloth. "Give it a hard shake after adding the liquid and it becomes a torch." Rosabella demonstrated by igniting the torch.

"How is this supposed to help?" Romana asked.

"That depends," Rosabella asked. "How much of your father's ability to cause small typhoons with his breath did you inherit?"

"Some, but it will develop with years of practice," Romana answered, then her eyes widened as she realized where this was going. "If I combine what I have of that with this torch, I could do a good imitation of dragon's breath."

Romana raised the torch, took a deep breath and blew. This produced a jet of fire roughly fifteen feet long that lasted for five seconds.

"Yeah, I can work with this," Romana said with glee.

...

Shortly later, Duchess joined the group and Raven called several people together.

Duchess and Maddie changed into their zodiart forms while Raven became Kamen Rider Nocturnal and the Dremorangers suited up.

"All right," Nocturnal spoke up. "To test how well the Dremorangers new weapons work, we'll have the same lineups as last time. So that's Maddie vs. Dexter, me vs. Daring, and Duchess vs. Cerise, Briar and Hunter." Everyone split into those groups and faced eachother.

Dremora Blue summoned both the hawk mace and the tortoise shield then charged Maddie. Maddie pointed her scepter at D. Blue and unleashed a blast of freezing mist that he blocked it with his shield. D. Blue used the shield to push past the scepter, rammed Maddie with it and then swung the mace, causing spark damage.

Maddie swung her scepter but D. Blue knocked it away with his shield and counterattacked with the mace. Maddie ran to D. Blue's left and used the scepter to create a sheet of ice on the ground that she slid to gain distance. After about twenty feet, she got off and turned around to see D. Blue coming at her. She pointed the scepter at him and fired another blast of freezing mist that hit the ground in front of him. This created a sheet of ice that D. Blue tripped on, making him fall forward.

Maddie ran towards D. Blue, who knew that being on his back was an indefensible position and rolled away as Maddie neared. He rolled for a bit just as Maddie swung her scepter down and then got back up. Maddie pointed her scepter at him and shot three icicles that D. Blue blocked with his shield.

"Damn it," Maddie cried out, pissed at how good Dexter was at blocking attacks. She continued to steam as D. Blue rushed her. When he was at her, a faint golden aura appeared around Maddie that made her grow to triple her original height. Her frustration and desire to overpower Dex's defense created a new ability.

"Oh shi ...," Dex cursed but was stopped as Maddie swung her enlarged scepter like a crocquet mallet. Dex blocked with his shield but this did no good as the force sent him flying and his back hit a tree, causing him spark damage.

"Ooopsie," Maddie said, her concern causing her to revert to her original size. "Are you okay?"

"Mostly," D. Blue answered as he laid on the ground.

"Do you want to keep fighting?" Maddie asked.

"Hex no," he answered.

 _I step up my game and she steps her's up more_ , Dexter thought as he grinned under his helmet. While he was displeased at losing to Maddie again, he did like what this meant for bolstering the strike force.

...

Meanwhile, Nocturnal and Dremora Yellow faced eachother.

"I'm not going to go easy on you this time, Daring," Nocturnal said as she played her guitar and summoned Maddie next to her.

"Two-on-one: I still like my odds," D. Yellow boasted as he called on his bow.

Nocturnal and Maggie spilt up to come at D. Yellow from two sides. He fired an arrow at Maggie which was a grazing hit and Maggie countered by throwing an energy dagger that D. Yellow evaded. D. Yellow shot another arrow that hit Maggie's chest.

Kamen Rider Nocturnal neared D. Yellow so he dispelled the bow and summoned both the lion gauntlets and rhino boots. Nocturnal swung her night axe and D. Yellow blocked with one gauntlet and kicked Nocturnal's shin with the horn of one of his boots. This caused the dark rider to stagger and gave D. Yellow an opening for a quick one-two combo that made Nocturnal step back.

The dark rider played some chords on her guitar that out sent brown sound waves that hit D. Yellow that made him and his equipment weigh three times as much.

 _Crap, can't move,_ Daring thought, unable to move his gauntlets and boots due to the new weight as Nocturnal raised her axe and delivered a strike to his shoulder. _Maybe I can use this new weight against her._

D. Yellow went up to Nocturnal, put her footing off-balance and shoved her to the ground. He then dropped to the ground and elbow dropped Nocturnal, causing a great amount of spark damage due to Daring's strength and increased weight.

 _I'm gonna feel that tomorrow,_ Raven thought.

Maggie went up D. Yellow and kicked him in the side just before the gravity spell wore off, causing him to roll away for a bit. Maggie began going towards him but D. Yellow brought back his bow and shot an arrow that hit Maggie in her helmet, causing her to stagger. He quickly got back on his feet, traded in the bow for his gauntlets and boots and punched Maggie twice. This sent her to the ground and he kicked her in the side with one of the rhino horns, causing her to dematerialize.

 _Serves her right_ , Daring thought, not liking how he was kicked earlier. Unfortunately for him while he was savouring this victory, Raven got back up and used her axe to swipe D. Yellow's leg out from under him, causing him to fall on his back.

Nocturnal raised her axe to strike but D. Yellow rolled out of the way as the axe fell. He continued to roll as the dark rider switched holding the night axe into guitar mode and struck a power cord that sent out a bolt of lightning from the tip of the guitar's neck. When the bolt got near Daring, it was drawn to his metal equipment and went into him, causing sparks to emit all over his body and making him fall down again.

"I give up," D. Yellow said.

...

Duchess was standing in front Dremoras Red, Green and Pink. D. Green summoned the croc cannon, aimed and fired. The shot missed due to the cannon's size hindering precise aiming against nimble targets so Duchess evaded it easily. D. Green took another shot (that missed) while Red and Pink ran in an arc to take Duchess from separate sides.

Duchess used her new ability to vanish and reappeared behind D. Green. She brought her fans and slashed at his back while he was wondering where she went. D. Green stepped forward to get away from his unseen attacker as he dismissed the croc cannon and summoned the grizzly axe. He spun around and delivered an axe swipe that Duchess stepped back to evade. She then countered with two more fan slashes and a kick to D. Green's side.

D. Red saw this and ran towards her ally. She called on her wolf fang daggers and got in two slashes at Duchess. Duchess sidestepped another slash and spun in place to kick D. Red in her side. Duchess then leapt backwards just as Hunter tried to slash her from her side.

Duchess spun in place and sent out a barrage of feather projectiles at Dremoras Green and red. Before the projectiles hit, D. Red summoned the talon striker, which flew towards Duchess and caused a small explosion when it collided at the same time Duchess projectiles hit Dremoras Green and Red.

Duchess got back to her feet from the explosion and saw D. Pink coming at her with the fin blade boomerang out. She decided to go with the boomerang since the Vixey yo-yo didn't work great against Duchess last time. D. Pink slashed at Duchess with the boomerang and Duchess countered with fan slashes. Duchess sidestepped a boomerang slash and delivered two more fan slashes.

While they were fighting, Dremoras Green and Red and called out their bows and shot arrows that hit Duchess. They shot two more arrows that Duchess blocked with one of her fans but this left her open to D. Pink summoning the Vixey Yo-yo and striking her with it, causing some spark damage. D. Pink got in another hit from the yo-yo.

Duchess took a great leap back and jumped off a tree to rocket towards D. Pink. Acting without really thinking, D. Pink threw the fin blade boomerang at Duchess, who swatted it away with one of her fans, but she was so focused on the boomerang that she didn't notice the yo-yo come from the side. The yo-yo hit her (again) and changed her trajectory so that she hit the ground pretty hard. She vanished again just as D. Red had finished running towards her.

 _Damn it,_ Cersie thought at just missing Duchess again. _At least I'm getting in some of my cardio chasing after her._

Duchess reappeared behind D. Green, who had anticipated this and brought out the croc cannon while turning around. Duchess was caught off-guard by this and ran into the barrel. D. Green followed through by firing the cannon at point blank range, causing Duchess to fly back at an upward angle then hit the ground and tumble a bit.

"Please stop hurting me," Duchess cried.

...

With the rematches done, the combatants gathered up.

"Ice please," Raven said to Maddie as she dispelled her armor. Maddie used her ability to create a pile of ice chunks nearby while D. Blue grabbed some bandages from a nearby bag. Everyone else reverted back to their normal forms and used the bandages to make ice packs, then placed them on where they had bruises. Raven let out a long sigh of relief as she placed her ice pack on the bruise she got from Daring's elbow drop.

"When did you get that teleporting ability?" Hunter asked Duchess.

"Today," Duchess answered then had a sad hexpression. "Didn't help me much against you, Briar and Cerise though."

"It might have helped," Hunter began, "if you mixed up how you used it. Coming at me from behind is pretty predicable and that's why I caught you off-guard only the second time you used it on me."

"I'll keep that in mind," Duchess said with a grin. While she was grateful for the advice, it was rather weird having a civil conversation with Ashlyn's boyfriend.

"You seem rather pleased yourself, Daring," Raven said. "Which is weird since you just lost to me twice."

"But I got in one good hit," Daring replied. "And considering you double-teamed me with your sidekick this time, I'm calling that an improvement."

They were then interrupted by the sound of a somewhat large explosion.

"We're under attack!" Dexter panicky yelled as he looked to find the attackers.

"No you're not," Apple replied. "I tried using the bow and my knowledge of chy-myth-stry to make a smoke with slightly explosive smoke to make an explosive arrow more devastating and ... it wasn't as slightly explosive as I intended."

"That was cool!" Finelope piped in after wheeling over from where she was doing target practice with the spell rifle. "Who'd have thought that your many talents would include blowing stuff up."

Everyone murmured in agreement to this.


	10. Chapter 10

It was Thursday afternoon with Raven's attack squad. Training was uneventful and they all gathered around Sparrow's fire pit before heading back to the school.

Just as everyone was about to sit down, Maddie (still in the form of the Cassiopeia zodiart) used her ice ability to create a pile of small ice chips. She then reverted to human form and pulled out a stack of paper cones and a trap containing several kinds of flavored syrup.

"Who wants snow cones?" Maddie asked jubilantly. Everyone got near Maddie and helped themselves to a snow cone before sitting down a log around the fire pit to talk about stuff before going back to the school.

"There's something I need to bring up with a lot of you," Duchess began and got everyone's attention. "I've become pretty disillusioned with the Royal way lately. I know we've had our ... difficulties Raven, but would you welcome me if I were to join the Rebels?"

"Say what now?" Raven asked, completely gobsmacked by Duchess's question.

"I'm with Raven," Apple piped in. "Why would you want to defect? Hexspecially after you took my position as Royal student body co-president?"

"And what about all that stuff," Briar joined, "you said about how your story not having a happy ending doesn't matter because you'll live on through it?"

"I lied about all of that," Duchess hexplained, "because I really wanted that position so I could finally one-up Apple on something."

"That sounds about right," Briar snarked.

"Anyway," Duchess continued, "I'm actually dreading how my story will end and after the euphoria of taking the co-president position from Apple wore off, it turns out that I'm not suited or interested in the actual job. Also, a big part of why I wanted that job was to get closer to Daring and that wasn't as great as I thought it would be either." Duchess finished while giving Daring a glare.

"You seemed to take it well earlier," Daring said.

"Again, I lied," Duchess hexplained. "And your rejection really sucked because it happened so soon after what happened with Justine." Duchess paused as she recounted how devasting the ebony beauty's rejection had been.

"I still don't know what you saw in her," Sparrow interjected. "Her dark skin is really off-putting."

"Hey," Cedar angrily piped in. "I''m going to look like Justine when I turn human."

"So even with skin instead of wood," Sparrow said, "you'll still be funny looking."

"How'd that hexpression I once heard go?" Meiling said while glaring at Sparrow. "You are huge douchebag."

"You're not using that right," Sparrow countered.

"Yes she is," Raven, Dexter, Hunter and Cedar said all at once.

"Can we go back to talking about me?" Duchess asked. Everyone looked at her and nodded yes. "So becoming co-president wasn't that great and I bring it up because it made me realize that I don't really know what I want."

 _I'm going through the same thing,_ Daring thought. After his little heart-to-heart and lip-to-lip session with Cerise in the woods after finding out about his sister being Kamen Rider Star Knight, he's started questioning all the things he thought he knew about wanting to be with Apple and the inherent rightness of the Royal way.

"Combine that," Duchess continued, "with how Grimm has really f#*ked me over by supporting Evan and I'm pretty disillusioned with the Royal way. The way I see it, we're all here because of him endorsing Evan. What does that say about the current system that it can be so easily gamed by a sadistic ball sack like Evan?"

"That the current system," Apple began venomously, "has several gaping holes in it and that Headmaster Grimm is not the benevolent father figure he makes himself out to be. I'm going to enjoy deposing him."

"What?" Several people around Apple asked in shock.

"Oops," Apple said, finally realizing that she'd said that out loud. "When this is over with, I'm going to go over Grimm's head to the various kings and queens he is ultimately accountable to and tell them about Grimm allowing Evan to build a force to come after Raven."

"I imagine they're not hexactly Raven's biggest fans," Dexter spoke up. "They might not see anything wrong with Grimm letting Evan do what he wants to her."

"Which is why we must win this upcoming battle," Apple countered. "Some of those kings and queens might be okay with Grimm taking questionable measures if he gets results so we need to make sure he doesn't. Then I make a compelling argument that Grimm is both corrupt and incompetent so he shouldn't be in charge anymore."

"That should work," Daring said, earning a few confused looks from everyone else.

"You're okay with this?" Dexter asked.

"I am," Daring said. "In fact, part of why Apple's going to do that is a favor for me in hexchange for helping Raven. I know it seems odd that I'm turning on Grimm out of all people but my loyalty is to this school, not to Grimm personally. And while I wouldn't be able to phrase it as well as Apple, she's absolutely right about how Grimm as been fairy bad lately, both in terms of competence and morals. Also, even if Grimm wanted to reach a compromise with the Rebels, would you take him up on the offer Raven?"

"Hex no," Raven answered with a sour hexpression. "He's lied to me too many times."

"A completely understandable position," Daring added and then took on an hexpression of regret. "I went to him last week and suggested that he let you go back to Monster High and reverse the magic placed on you to basically banish you to staying there. You get out of everyone's hair and stay at the school you like more: a seemingly ideal arrangement. But Grimm said that you would likey would never accept any offer from him because of all the lying he's done and I'm guessing some time later, Evan made his pitch which he apparently thought was better. He really shouldn't be in charge anymore."

Everyone nodded and murmured in agreement at this latest hexample of Grimm's horribleness. Briar, however, had a forlorn look on her face.

"Do you want to go back to Monster High?" Briar asked Raven, who she was sitting next to. "I mean, the main reason why you refused to sign on Legacy Dary was because Grimm lied about compromising with you to bring you back, closed the door behind you in an attempt to strong arm you into signing."

"I did want to go back," Raven said, "because I thought I belonged there more. I'm in my greatest time of need and look who's come to help me: old friends, new friends, temporary allies and even people who used to hate my guts. I really do belong here."

 _That would have pissed me off so much earlier but not now,_ Daring thought, feeling indifferent about Raven wanting to stay at EA High. He then noticed that Raven and Briar held hands, then gazed into each other's eyes with hexpressions that did not seem remotely platonic. _I don't care about that either._

"Mm, Raven," Apple said to get her roommate's attention. Raven looked around and noticed that everyone was looking at her and Briar in surprise.

"It's hexactly what it looks like," Raven calmly answered their unasked question, deciding to not insult their intelligence with an unconvincing denial.

"That is so hot," Sparrow said with a smirk, earning a light elbow jab from Meiling. Everyone else was either indifferent or gave congratulations on them getting together.

"Is this going to be a problem Daring?" Brair asked with a glare and tone signaling that she welcomed any possible confrontation.

"No," Daring answered. "Some stuff has happened lately that has made me question the importance of keeping everything the way it's always been," Daring the turned his head slightly and the people across from him followed his gaze to see that he was looking at Cerise for some reason.

"What's that about?" Apple asked.

"Uhh," Daring stammered. He didn't have much hexperience at lying and was caught off-guard.

"We're a couple now," Cerise answered, seeing no point in trying to back up Daring's pitiful attempt at deception. She wasn't terribly upset about this: she and Daring were telling everyone about them, it just happened a little earlier than planned. The others made hexpressions of surprise at learning this and simultaneously asked questions like what, when and how.

"It's long and deeply personal story," Daring replied, eager to avoid sharing any details that involved him showing vulnerability to Cerise.

"Okay," Raven said.

"Well well," Maddie said with a joyous grin as she looked at Daring. "I'd say that your disapproval of Grimm and hooking up with someone you shouldn't have is enough to make you an honorary Rebel." Maddie got up, spread her arms wide and began walking towards Daring. "Come here."

"Attempt to hug me at your own risk," Daring said while cracking his knuckles menacingly.

"Party pooper," Maddie replied with a deflated hexpression and sat back down.

"Has anyone else hooked up recently?" Duchess asked with a hint of irritation.

"Cupid and I are kind of a couple now," Dexter answered. Duchess balled her fist and bit her lip to restrain annoyance at how even Dexter was having a more successful love life than her. She then took a deep breath to collect herself.

"We have gotten seriously off-topic here, Raven," Duchess began. "Back to the idea of me joining the Rebels: I know we've had our problems, which I am now sorry for, but I really have more in common with the Rebels now. Also, what are your long-term plans to gain the freedom to choose your fate?"

Raven's only response to this was a nervous glance and stunned silence.

"That's what I thought," Duchess continued with a hint of smugness. "You're still in the 'I need all the help I can get' phase of your rebellion and therefore have no practical reason to turn down my offer."

"All right, you can join," Raven relented. "But I have one condition: to make things easy for both of us, don't try to f#(k me on this," she finished with a glare indicating that she was ready at a moment's notice to enact consequences for any betrayal.

"Okay," Duchess calmly agreed, understanding Raven's desire to intimidate her. "I'll make a formal announcement bout my defecting on Sunday so we don't have to deal with the fallout from that so soon to fighting Evan's forces."

They made small talk for a while and then left to go back to the school. While walking, Cedar tapped Duchess's shoulder from behind.

"I noticed that you seem unhappy," Cedar began, "about the current state of your love life."

"What about it?" Duchess asked without any of her usual attitude.

"I know that Sparrow," Cedar continued, "is a jackass and apparently kind of a racist when it comes to his taste in his girls but he does seem to care about you. Otherwise, he wouldn't be part of this. If you really want to be with someone for the sake of being with someone..."

"I'm gonna have to stop you there," Duchess interrupted. "Sparrow and I agreed some time ago that we're better off as just friends."

 _I hope she doesn't ask for details,_ Duchess thought.

(Begin flashback)

 _Duchess and Sparrow had just completed a prank agaisnt one of the many people that Duchess considered beneath her. Sparrow was laughing a bit at their handiwork._

 _"_ _That was great," Sparrow said. "Duchess, you are the only girl in this school that I don't want to get with because I respect you too much. Well, that and you seem like you'd be really high maintenance."_

 _"_ _That's for the best," Duchess responded. "I doubt you have the means to treat me to the standards I'm used to anyway."_

(End flashback)

"Thanks for your concern though," Duchess said. She briefly fought back the urge to hug Cedar before deciding to give in. She wrapped her arms around the wood girl and Cedar returned the hug.


	11. Chapter 11

It was now Friday afternoon, the last day before the big battle. All of Raven's strike force had gathered at the usual spot. All of the Dremorangers had transformed and Dremora Blue called them all together.

"I had a weird dream last night," D. Blue said.

"Was it about the new weapons we got?" D. Pink asked. "If so, I had that dream too."

"Same here," D. Yellow piped in, followed by D. Red and D. Green murmuring in agreement. "But I don't remember how hexactly it went."

"Everyone take out those weapons and let's see what happens," D. Green suggested. The Dremorangers summoned the wepons they received from the Dremora spirits they hadn't bonded to: shark, crocodile, rhino, tortoise and eagle. The weapons all started glowing brightly in the respective color of the Dremoranger that wielded them.

"What does it mean?" D. Red asked while the talon striker was perched on her arm.

Just then, an additional section appeared on the Croc Cannon extending from the original, doubling the lengh of the barrel. The new addition had two rectangular slots near where the extension began and two small slots closer to where it ended. The sudden appearance of the extension caused the cannon to dip to the ground becaused D. Green was caught of guard by the sudden increase of size and weight. He tried to lift it properly but it couldn't keep it in the proper position for more than a few seconds.

D. Yellow's boots passed through his feet, flew to the Croc Cannon and the soles attached to the larger slots. At the same time, D. Pink's Fin Blade Boomerang broke in half and attached to the smaller slots while D. Blue's Tortoise Shield had a hole appear in the center that enlarged and spread out the rest of the shield. The shield flew and went through the end of the cannon barrel. Lastly, D. Red's Talon Striker flew off her arm and phased into the cannon.

"Huh," D. Blue said, fascinated by their weapons acting on their own and in some cases, changing shape.

"Let's see what this baby can do!" D. Pink shouted eager to find that out.

D. Green remained where he was while Ds Pink and Red grabbed the makeshift handles formed by the Rhino Boots while Ds Yellow and Blue did the same with the ones formed by the Fin Blade Boomerang.

"Aim towards the sky so we don't blow anything up," D. Green advised and everyone else lifted the cannon. D. Green fired and the Talon Striker flew out, but now it was over three times its original size and wreathed in flames.

"And now I have a boner," D. Yellow said gleefully at the product of their new weapon.

"Didn't need to know that," D. Pink chastised then looked at the empowered Talon Striker. It flew up about fifty feet and then circled around because the Dremorangers hadn't had a target in mind. After about eight seconds, it vanished. "So what should we call this combo platter of a weapon?"

"I'm leaning towards the Phoenix Launcher," D. Red answered. All the Dremorangers nodded in agreement to this name.

...

Raven and Duchess were in a sparring match with each other. Raven had decided to forego using the Night Axe because the weapon was too cumbersome for someone as agile as Duchess and was going unarmed. They'd hexchanged some blows with eachother were pretty even in that regard.

Duchess vanished in front of Nocturnal, who turned around to look for where Duchess would reappear. Duchess reappeared about ten feet in the air directly above where she was which unfortunately for Nocturnal, she hadn't considered. Duchess fell down and delivered a dual fan strike to the dark rider's back.

Nocturnal countered by doing a roundhouse kick that hit Duchess in her shoulder. Nocturnal took this opportunity to summon her Night Axe and played a power cord that sent out brown sound waves that hit Duchess and increased her weight by three times. Nocturnal grabbed the Night Axe by its neck and swung towards Duchess who vanished again and reappeared about fifteen feet behind her.

Duchess spun in place (slowly, due to still being under the effects of the gravity spell) and sent out a barrage of feathery projectiles. Nocturnal quickly struck a cord on her guitar that created a sonic shield around her which deflected the projectiles.

"Call it a draw?" Nocturnal asked.

"Sounds good," Duchess accepted and the two girl walked towards eachother.

"Teleporting directly up was a brilliant move," Nocturnal complemented. "I never would have hexpected you to attack from that angle."

"Thank you," Duchess replied. "Not that it did much good agaisnt your quick reaction time and that cool kick. How were you able to counter me so well?"

"I've been at this longer than you."

"It shows."

Nocturnal looked around at what everyone else was doing. The Dremorangers had just finished their test firing of the Phoenix Launcher and were cheering at the new acquisition. Kamen Rider Star Knight and the white knight (actually Jillian Beanstalk) were in a sparring match of their own to hone their sword skills. Ramona was practicing her feral fighting style relied on claw swipes and evasion. Meiling was sharing some of her martial arts skills with Demona (who was in her warrior form) while Cedar and Sparrow were practicing with their weapons of choice.

Humphrey had joined them for this last day of training and had brought a tennis ball machine along with several dozen balls. He was using this to launch targets for Apple, Finelope and Ashylnn to hit. The girls did fairy well, hitting almost all targets with grazing hits.

 _Just when I thought that she can't get more amazing,_ Humphrey thought, captivated by Apple's archery skill.

 _Combine this with the reinforcements from Monster High,_ Raven thought, _we'll be ready for anything Evan throws at us._

Nocturnal took another look around at how many people were coming to her defense and how much effort they were putting into it. She shed a few tears of gratitude underneath her helmet.

 _..._

Much later that night, the strike force gathered in the common room closest to Briar and Ashlynn's room. They had gathered to go over the latest intelligence report from Duchess's spy and were using Briar throwing a party as cover for this meeting, which is why they had music on with speakers facing the walls.

"Evan's added a few monsters since the last report," Duchess began. "The first is named Spike. He's some kind of lizard creature with triangular ridges on his back and forearms that he can shoot off. The second is a humanoid griffin monster capable of flight. Both creatures are purplish in color and can release a freezing mist."

"Those don't sound anything," Finelope spoke up, "like the monsters he made when we worked with him."

"They're a different breed of Yummie," Raven hexplained, "than the bird and bug ones he made earlier. Rather than being made from a person's desire, these are made from an inanimate object's lack of desire."

"What?" Apple said, echoing the goup's confusion.

"I don't get it either," Raven continued. "But I'm pretty sure that's how it worked when this guy named Dr. Maki made a few that Kamen Rider Ohs fought."

"He's got several zodiadarts in his force," Duchess continued. "The most dangerous of those appears to be Dom the dragon, who's got metal armor that seems to be imperious to everything and can throw heavy metal balls to attack from a distance plus Pen, modeled after a pendulum clock. He can slow down time around him and attacks by swinging a weight at the end of a chain. There's also Camille the Chameleon, capable of invisibility and using her tongue as a whip, Walter the wolf who moves swiftly and strikes with claws and lastly, Grizz Senior, a large zodiart resembling a large bear.

"Senior?" Briar asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"They added that," Duchess began hexplaining, "to differentiate him from Blondie's pet bear cup, Grizz. Grizz Senior doens't appear to have any abilities aside from his strength and claws. Moving on, Evan made three yummies from Blondie, Lizzie and Hopper's desire to go after Raven. These are Oscar the owl, Monty the mantis and Antone the ant. Oscar can fly, produce strong winds and can use this thick black cloth-like thing to lash and bind enemies. Monty is agile, fights with two sickles and can create blades that fly out as projectiles. Antone is huge, strong and can shoot out green lightning."

"There's one other monster that might be the most powerful one," Duchess continued. "Evan can use the Beast Gaia Memory to turn this obese cat he calls Lil' Fatty into a large beast with claws that has a healing ability so powerful, it can recover from wounds almost as soon as their inflicted."

 _Looks like we can add plagiarism,_ Raven thought, _to the list of reasons why Evan sucks. He totally ripped that off from what the Sonasaki family did to their cat._

"Then there's Hopper, Blondie, Lizzie and Faebelle's monster forms," Duchess kept speaking, "as well as Olivia and Mason but we've already gone over what they can do."

"That's a lot," Ashylnn said worringly.

"Some of them might be wimps," Romana piped. "We'll deal with them quickly then move on to the more serious threats."

"Plus we do have more people," Raven spoke up. "We're going to have like ten more people joining us from Monster High. Which reminds me: when they get here, be careful about using the word monster around them."

Everyone agreed to this.

"What about Duchess's spy?" Hunter asked. "If they're going to fight on Evan's side, then that's the same as not really having a spy at all."

"My spy will turn on Evan," Duchess answered, "as the battle begins. "That way, Evan won't be able to do anything about it with so much else going on."

"Makes sense," Raven said, then looked around at the group and took a deep breath. "I know you all have your reasons for helping me and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that: even those of you that don't even care about me." Raven looked at Duchess to finish.

"Evan's only getting his hands on you over my dead body," Briar as she walked up to Raven from her right side, hugged her and gave her a peck on the lips.

Ashlynn and Hunter saw this and also kissed, looking forward to how helping Raven out of her current predacimant could lead to them being allowed to be together.

"We can use Duchess's intel to plan ahead," Raven said. They all began analyzing the intel to see who would be the best counter to which monsters.


	12. Chapter 12

It was now Saturday, the day they'd been preparing for. Raven's team was making last minute preparations before going to meet Evan's forces on the field of battle. The girls had tied back their hair, wore pants instead of skirts and had temporarily traded their heeled shoes for more practical foot ware.

Baba Yaga was in Kitty and Maddie's room, using her magic to turn the dimensional soft spot in their room into a portal that Raven's allies from Monster High could travel through. She paused for a moment, took out her mirrorphone and called Raven.

"We've got a problem," Baba Yaga said. "Making this portal is going to be harder than I thought."

"Any idea why?" Raven asked worriedly. "I'm really counting on those monsterous reinforcements."

"It's almost as if the barrier between worlds has been reinforced. I wouldn't be surprised if Grimm had another sorcerer strengthen the barrier to prevent further complications from Monster High seeping into this world. It was probably that half-brother f#(king snake in the grass, Morgan La Fay."

"Yes yes, we've already gone over how you hate her. Are my reinforcements coming or not?"

"They'll get here," Baba Yaga reassured Raven. "It's going to take at least twenty minutes, probably closer to thirty."

"Damn," Raven cursed. "I'd try to stall but Evan's made it clear that if I break his terms, he'll punish my friends for it. Just get them to me when you can."

Raven said goodbye to Baba Yaga, then faced her strike force and hexplained the situation with their reinforcements. They obviously weren't happy to learn this but didn't let it deter them as they headed out. Darling transformed ahead of time because she had a secret to keep but others didn't.

They'd gotten a few carts that were being pulled by Demona, Darling's horse Sir Gallophad and Briar's unicorn. About ten minutes later, they arrived at the quarry that would be the battleground for this fight. Raven's forces got off their carts and faced Evan's forces. Evan's forces stayed back as Evan stepped forward to hexchange words before the battle got underway.

Raven looked at Evan's gathering of monsters. She recognized Spike and Gilroy from their descriptions. Spike was a purple lizard creature with a beak-like mouth and a triangular ridges coming out of his back. He had natural gauntlets over his forearms that similar ridges coming out of them. Gilroy had was a purple griffin-like creature with lion's paws for feet, large eagle talons for hands and an eagle's beak surrounded by a lion's mane with two large wings on his back.

"Now Raven," Evan began. "I know this is really weird for everyone, including me, but I'm acttally the good guy in this situation."

"So Grimm hasn't promised you anything," Apple countered, "in hexchange for dealing with Raven for him."

"I don't see how that's relevant," Evan flatly responded. "I'll only say this once Raven: you can surrender now and I'll leave your friends alone. Plus, you'll be saving us all a bunch of time."

Raven looked around at her comrades. Judging by the determined hexpressions on her allies' faces, they had no intention of backing down. Raven materialized her Night Axe into her hands.

"Kiss my axe!" Raven shouted as she held up the Night Axe above her head.

"You've been wanting to use that for a long time, haven't you?" Apple asked.

"You have no idea," Raven muttered in response.

"I was hoping this would get ugly," Evan said with a grin as he turned around and walked to his own side. "I'm going to stay back here and ready plan B. As for the rest of you, go f#^k 'em up," Evan finished by pointing at Raven's side.

Hopper, Lizzie, Blondie and Faebelle grabbed their Gaia Memories and activated them.

 **Hopper**

 **Heat**

 **Triceratops**

 **Dragon**

The four of them inserted the Memories and changed into their dopant forms. On the other side, Maddie reached under her hat, took out her Astro Switch and changed into the Cassiopeia zodiart.

"Henshin," Raven shouted as she chanelled her magic into the Nocturnal Driver and changed into Kamen Rider Nocturnal.

"Spirit Unity," the five Dremorangers cried out, transforming them into their suits.

"You guys look ridiculous," Hopper said and briefly laughed, either unintinonally or deliberately ignoring his current insectoid appearance.

The sides charged at eachother. Lizzie, Grizz Sr., Gilroy, Hopper and Lil' Fattie went directly for Nocturnal.

 _They don't have me as outnumbered as they think,_ Raven thought. She called out Demona, who jumped out of an infernal portal in the ground and then changed into her humanoid form while Nocturnal played the song strings on her guitar to summon Maggie.

As they got close, Hopper turned around and delivered a roundhouse kick to Lil' Fattie.

"What the hex, Hopper?," Lizzie asked.

 _He's Duchess's spy,_ Raven mentally put together quickly.

"Sorry Lizzie," Hopper replied to his former ally. "Evan is such an evil prick that I can't go along with any plan of his."

"What!?" Lizzie shouted, blindsided by this betrayal. While she was distracted, Maggie conjured two energy daggers and threw them at Lizzie, causing some spark damage. Lizzie turned the magical duplicate and returned fire by shooting a fireball that Maggie evaded.

Gilroy flew a few feet into the air and was caught by Grizz Senior, who launched the icy griffin monster at Noctrunal and Demona, further propelled by his own flight ability. Nocturnal played her guitar and sent out brown sound waves that tripled Gilroy's weight, causing him to fall and skid across the ground, leaving sparks along the way. The dark rider and her mount turned fighter easily stepped around the sliding griffin monster.

Demona kicked Gilroy in the side while he was still down. Gilroy countered by unleashing a stream of freezing mist that caused much spark damage to Demona. Gilroy got back on his feet and struck with one of his claws but was then blindsided by Maggie running behind him and delivering an elbow strike to his head.

Maggie decided to pass on fighting Lizzie wanted to switch foes with Demona. Since the duplicate couldn't speak, she communicated this by looking Demona and then pointed to Lizzie. Demona neighed in response and began charging the fire shooter.

While this went on, Grizz Senior charged at Nocturnal. When he got close, Nocturnal strummed her guitar, which produced hextremely loud music. This stopped Grizz Senior in his tracks as he covered his ears. While occupied, Nocturnal switched holding the guitar to axe mode and delivered a swing to Grizz's left knee. This was followed up by her going behind Grizz and delivering another axe strike to the back of his head.

Grizz attempted to counter by lashing out with his arm while turning around but Nocturnal easily evaded that and delivered another axe strike then quickly moved to Grizz's left side. Grizz tried to strike again but his knee injury slowed him enough for Nocturnal to evade.

Demona began running towards Lizzie, who shot a fireball at the hellsteed that was evaded. Lizzie shot again but this one also missed. She shot a third fireball but this time, Demona countered by jumping a few feet into the air and kicked the fireball back towards Lizzie. Lizzie raised her arms to block, ensuring the fireball did fairy little damage. But while she defended, Demona closed the distance between them even further.

Lizzie shot another fireball that Demona grazed and then kicked Lizzie. Demona followed through two more kicks and a roundhouse kick that sent Lizzie stumbling back a bit.

Lizzie shot another fireball that Demona evaded by jumping over five feet into the air. While airborne, Demona flipped while her right hoof glowed orange and delivered a drop kick to Lizzie's head. This blow was powerful enough to knock Lizzie out of her dopant form, which also made her Gaia Memory eject from her body and shatter.

Evan teleported next to this battle and used his telekinesis to gather up the remains of the Heat Gaia Memory. Demona neighed in anger at the seeing the source of the large conflict and charged him but he merely smirked evilly and teleported away.

Back with Maggie and Gilroy, they'd hexchanged several blows with Maggie landing more blows that didn't hurt fairy much. Gilroy flew back and into the air several feet, preparing to divebomb the magical duplicate but Maggie conjured an energy dagger that hit the edge of his right wing. This caused Gilroy to stagger in mid-air and lose altitude. Maggie seized this opportunity by jumping up and tackling Gilroy, causing some spark damage to his back as he dropped.

While Gilroy was stunned, Maggie began trying to punch his head into the ground. She only got in three hits before before Gilroy unleashed some freezing mist that hit Maggie, causing much spark damage and making her dematerilize.

Gilroy got back on his feet and was hit from the side by a leaping kick from Demona, who had ran over after defeating Lizzie.

"You seem to be Raven's pet," Gilroy said in a low voice to Demona. "I've been given strict orders not to kill anyone but I don't think that applies to pets. Killing you will hurt Raven greatly."

...

Kitty was standing in front of Walter, the wolf zodiart. She was wearing a belt with several small bags around it.

"If you want to fight a cat," Kitty said as she withdrew a small ball from one of the bags, "you better be ready to fight dirty." Kitty threw the ball and it landed right in front of Walter and produced an amount of thick smoke.

Walter was stunned and blinded by this but powered through the smoke. He hadn't noticed that Kitty had thrown about twenty marbles from another bag onto the ground and ran onto some, falling forward. Before he could get up, Kitty teleported away and reappeared over ten feet above Walter with a rock that was about two feet long and four inches tall that she grabbed beteen teleports. Kitty teleported away as the rock fell onto Walter's back, causing some spark damage.

Kitty reappeared in front of Walter holding a sledge hammer. While the wolf monster was still reeling from the fall and the rock, Kitty raised the hammer and struck Walter's head.

"Cats rule and dogs drool," Kitty gloated as she delivered another strike. Walter was getting fairy pissed off now which he used to push agaisnt the ground and shake off the rock. Kitty struck his shoulder before 'porting away.

She reappeared behind Walter holding a pie in each hand. She threw the pie in her right hand, which exploded when it hit the wolf zodiart thanks to Ginger's enchantment. She quickly threw the other explosive pie while Walter turned around. The pie hit his chest and blew up.

The explosion made Walter fall backward and he had some trouble getting up due to all the damage he's taken. While on the ground, Kitty teleported away, grabbed the rock from earlier and 'ported directly above Walter again, dropping the rock. The rock fell about eight feet and landed on his chest. Kitty teleported away again and reappeared the sledgehammer next to Walter.

"Nighty night, fleabag," Kitty said as she pulled back the hammer and struck Walter's head. She did this two more times and was sure that at the fairy least, he was unconscious.

...

While this was going on, Dremora Green and Ashlynn were facing Mason, the chisel zodiart. Mason threw two of his spikes at them but Ashlynn used the magic in her wand to telekineticlly catch them, turn them around and throw them back at Mason. The spikes hit, causing some damage.

"Great job sweetie," D. Green complimented as he summoned his Croc Cannon and fired a blast at Mason which hit, causing a lot of spark damage.

"Thanks Hunter," Ashlynn replied.

Mason began charging at the young couple. D. Green fired another blast but Mason blocked with his arms, resulting in minimum damage. The zodiart powered through and knocked the Croc Cannon away from D. Green. Mason tried to stab D. Green with another spike but was stopped by Ashlynn binding his arm with her wand's magic. With Mason caught off-guard, D. Green brought out the Grizzly Axe and chopped at Mason's torso.

Mason punched with his free arm and knocked D. Green back. Mason then conjured two more spikes in his hands and turned around to go after Ashlynn, who countered by pointing her wand and at him and flashing an incredibly bright light into his eyes. Mason was stunned by this which gave D. Green an opening to chop the zodiart twice while Ashlynn stepped away.

 _This is going to take awhile,_ Hunter thought dreadfully.

...

Romana was standing across from Camille, the Chameleon zodiart. Camille turned invisible and planned a surprise attack.

 _Neat trick, but it won't do any good agaisnt me,_ Romana thought as she closed her eyes and began sniffing for Camille. She found the chameleon creature's scent, removed the torch Rosabella had given her earlier from a strap on her waist, ignited it with a powerful flick, inhaled deeply and blew with all her incredible might into the flame in Camille's direction. This created a jet of flame that hit Camille, ending her invisibility and causing spark damage all over her body.

While Camille was still reeling from the fiery assault, Ramona ran past her and slashed at her with a claw. Ramona made two more claw strikes and then took a few quick steps back to avoid a caounterattack. Then Romana ran past Camille again while making another claw strike.

Camille swiped to hit Ramona but the wolf girl was too fast. Camille looked in Romana's general direction and shot out her tongue which hit Romana's chest, causing her to stagger in pain. Camille saw this as an opening and charged. Romana dived out of the way, rolled on the ground and stood up.

Camille shot out her tongue again. The tongue wrapped around Romana's right arm but before Camille could tug back, Romana severed the tongue with the claws on her left hand. This made Camille cry out in pain.

 _And that is why,_ Romana began thinking, _using your tongue as a weapon is a bad idea._

While Camille was in pain from her tongue injury, Romana did another slash-by on Camille followed up with several more slashes. Camille lashed out again but only got a grazing blow Romana.

 _Rosabella said the torch requires a brief recharge period,_ Romana rembered. _Let's see if it's ready._

Romana grabbed the torch and flicked it, producing the flame. She inhaled and once more, blew to produce a stream of fire that hit Camille. This time, the damage was enough to make Camille revert to her original form of a pseudo yummy before falling to the ground. At the same time, the Astro Switch she used appeared next to her on the ground.

Evan teleported next to his defeated minion. Romana snarled at the sight of the sick individual responsible for this mess and rushed him. Evan pointed two of his fingers of his fingers at her and shot a thin bolt of electricity that she wasn't quick enough to dodge. The bolt stunned Romana long enough for Evan to grab the Astro Switch and teleport away.

"Damn," Romana angrily, cursing both the pain from Evan's attack and the chance to get her claws on him. The electric attack didn't seem to cause any lasting damage, so Ramanona looked around for someone else to help.


	13. Chapter 13

"Hello Faebelle," Duchess said with almost tangible disdain. "Before we could this fight underway, is there anything you want to say in defense of how much you've taken Evan's side against me?"

"I shouldn't have to defend myself," Faebelle began, "for upholding this school's sense of tradition and also getting back at Raven for what her mother did to my mother."

"I see," Duchess replied, seething with disdain for her former friend. "Out of respect for us once being friends, I'll be sure to give you flowers after sending you to the hospital: after I've sent you there."

Duchess and Faebelle charged eachother. Faebelle threw a punch that Duchess evaded sidestepped and countered with a kick. Faebelle threw another punch that hit. Duchess summoned her two fans and slashed with them. Duchess slashed again but Faebelle blocked with her arms and delivered two punches. Faebelle put all her might into another punch but Duchess teleported away.

"What the hex?" Faebelle asked out loud after only hitting air. She looked around to see where her feathered foe had gone to but didn't find her because Duchess had teleported directly above Faebelle. Duchess fell to the ground and slashed with her fans while landing gracefully.

Duchess did a spinning kick followed by two more fan slashes. Faebelle produced a smokescreen from her mouth (that was a byproduct of her ability to breath fire) that blinded Duchess. Faebelle moved to Duchess's side and quickly delivered two punches before leapt backwards to get away from Faebelle and landed about ten feet away.

Duchess spun in place and shot off a barrage of feather projectiles in the general area of the smokescreen. About half of the projectiles hit Faebelle becouse Duchess had to spread them out. Faebelle saw where Duchess was and charged her.

When Faebelle was close, Duchess leapt over her while kicking her back.

 _Time to roast this swan,_ Faebelle thought, immensely annoyed with how poorly the battle was going for her. She turned around and unleashed her dragon breath at Duchess. Duchess was caught off-guard by this but managed to teleport away after being hexposed to the intense heat for only half a second.

She reappeared behind Faebelle. Duchess slashed with her fans and followed through with a spin kick, sending Faebelle to her knees. Duchess changed position and delivered an axe kick to Faebelle's head. The dragon girl dropped to the ground and didn't look to be getting up anytime soon.

...

The owl Yummy flew into the air and dived at Dremora Red. Just like before, D. Red dropped to the ground to avoid the blow while striking with one of her daggers. Oscar landed on the ground and produced a thick, black length of a cloth-like and used it to tie up D. Red.

 _What are my options?_ Cerise asked herself. The cloth was too strong to break free from and her daggers weren't long enough to cut it, so she decided to summon the Eagle Striker.

The ethereal eagle flew through the cloth, freeing D. Red. The eagle then went for Oscar but the owl yummy flapped one of his wings to produce a powerful gust of wind that deflected the eagle. Oscar followed through by slashing with the pointed tips at the end of his wings, dispelling the Eagle Striker.

While Oscar was preoccupied, D. Red ran at him and slashed him while running past. She then slashed again and evaded a slash of Oscar's. Oscar then flapped his wings to produce another gust that sent D. Red to the ground. Oscar attempted to strike D. Red but she rolled out of the way.

D. Red got on her feet and slashed Oscar, then ran past him to avoid a counterattack before slashing again.

Attack and stay on the move, Cerise thought to herself as he moved to avoid another gust, which was only a grazing blow.

 _I'll whittle him down in time,_ Cerise thought.

...

The pendulum clock zodiart, Pen, swung his flail at Maddie while activating his power over time to freeze everything except him and his weapon. While frozen, the flail hit Maddie three times before the effect wore off.

The flail came at Maddie again but this time, she shot out a blast of freezing mist at the flail, icing up the area where the chain met the weight. It still hit Maddie but when Pen yanked back the flail, the iced up area sanpped off, separating the weight from the chain. While Pen was stunned by this, Maddie used her ice powers to create a grapefruit-sized ball of ice that fell to the ground near her.

"Five!" Maddie yelled (forgetting the thing people say when they play golf) as she swung her scepter, propelling the ice ball. The ball hit Penn hard enough to make it break and him stagger. Maddie followed through by shooting three icesicles at Penn.

Maddie charged at Penn whacked him with her scepter. Penn countered by lashing with his chain. They hexchanged blows for a while before activated her growing ability to tower over the clock zodiart. She brought back her scepter and pounded Penn like he was a nail. She worked in two more blows like that before returning to her original size.

"I'll be taking this," Maddie said as she grabbed Penn's chain and threw it away from him.

Penn got up punched Maddie but it didn't do much damage. Maddie unleashed a blast of freezing mist that hit Penn and caused a lot of spark damage. She then brought back her scepter and whachked Penn in his head as hard as she could. This caused Penn to revert out of his zodiart form and fall to the ground while his Astro Switch materialized next to him.

Maddie decided to run off and find someone else to help. If she had stayed a bit longer, she would have seen Evan teleport in and grab Penn's Astro Switch before teleporting away.

...

The mantis yummy (Monty) ran Apple and Jillain (in the white knight armor). Jillian charged Monty but he simply leaped over her. While airborne, Apple drew an arrow and fired. Apple used the bow's magic to make the arrow emit a loud, screeching sound as it flew. It bounced off Monty's skin but the screeching caused him to lose focus just before he neared the ground, causing him to botch the landing.

Jillian turned around and struck Monty with her sword, causing some spark damage while Apple notched another arrow and shot it, causing a small explosion next to Monty's head. This dazed him long enough for Jillian to work in another sword strike.

Monty rolled on the ground to get away from Jillian and stood up. Monty brought his sickles together and separated them, creating five blades that hovered in place before flying towards Jillian. Jillian blocked two of the blades with her sword but the other two hit her armor, knocking her around. Monty turned and ran towards Apple.

 _I hope this works,_ Apple thought as she notched an arrow. She used the bow's magic to make it a smoke arrow with the explosive chemicals mixed in. She shot the smoke arrow it landed on the ground near Monty, who was unimpressed and continued his charge. Apple quickly shot an explosive arrow that landed within the smoke cloud. This created a large explosion that sent Monty flying backwards as he took a lot of damage.

Jillian saw Monty fly towards her and readied her sword. She struck Monty while he was airborne, causing great damage by using that momentum against him.

Monty landed on the ground after the sword strike. Apple followed up by firing another arrow that hit his head and exploded. Jillian heard Monty make a pained groan that stopped midway, indicating he was either dead or unconscious.

"He's not getting up anytime soon," Jillian shouted to Apple. "Let's help someone else."

Apple and Jillian went in different directions as Apple decided to go back towards some supplies their group had brought with them and refill her quiver.

...

"You're going to pay," Blondie angrily began as she faced Dremora Yellow, "for ruining my Mirrorblog with your supreme dickishness!"

"Which I am sorry about," D. Yelllow calmly replied, hoping he could defuse this situation. "We can settle this non-violently."

"Then you'll prove your sorry by letting me pound you into the ground like a tent post?" Blondie asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I'm not that sorry," D. Yellow dryly answered as he summoned his Lion Gauntlets.

"Fine by me," Blondie said gleefully. "If your fists are as strong as your conviction to stand by the Royal way, this will be a cakewalk."

The two of them charged each other and when they were close, D. Yellow summoned his Rhino Boots. He kicked Blondie in the shin with the horn on one of his boots and followed through with two mighty punches. Blondie was knocked back a bit and countered by pointing an arm at D. Yellow then shooting out an orange energy orb that hit D. Yellow and caused a lot of spark damage.

Blondie swung her club at D. Yellow, causing more spark damage. She brought her club back for another swing but Daring interrupted her by stomping hard on her foot with one of his boots. This stunned Blondie long enough for D. Yellow to punch Blondie's face. D. Yellow then decided to disarm Blondie by knocking her club away.

 _I've got this,_ Daring told himself, feeling fairy confident about his chances.

...

Finelope, Meiling, Sparrow and Melody were across from Olivia, the ostrich yummy. Finelope shot a blast from her spell rifle at Olivia, which she dodged. Melody played her magic flute which filled Meiling and Sparrow with energy, making them stronger and faster. They ran at Olivia while the yummy surrounded one of her feet and 'kicked' a fireball towards Finelope. The mermaid shot at the fireball, dispelling it.

Sparrow slashed at Olivia with his two short swords and then pulled back so Meiling could swing her meteor hammer, scoring a hit. Right after that, Finelope squeezed off a shot that hit Olivia's shoulder and Sparrow worked in some more slashes.

 _It's working,_ Meiling thought as she swung her meteor hammer again. _We're attacking from so many angles, Olivia is not sure where to strike for a counterattack._ Meiling felt a little awkward fighting a yummy that was originally spawned from her desire to fight Foundation X during her brief alliance with Evan Chanter but was more interested in destroying Olivia to both protect Raven and put that part of her past behind her.

After a few successful attacks, Olivia knocked Sparrow out of the way and decided to go after Melody so that she'd stop powering up Sparrow and Meiling. When Melody saw Olivia closing she stopped playing the flute and grabbed a macaroon prepared by Ginger from a pouch on her waist. Melody ate the macaroon and the magic within it caused her skin to be covered in a metallic substance. Olivia kicked Melody but the attack had no affect.

Sparrow reached into a pouch on his waist and ate a chocolate tart that turned him invisible. He ran behind Olivia and began striking with his swords while moving around her. Meiling moved and swung her hammer in a veritical drop that landed on Olivia's head. Sparrow turned visible while Melody's armor spell wore off and Finelope fired two shots at Olivia. Melody got away from Olivia and began playing her flute again so they could continue wearing down Olivia.

...

Dremora Blue charged at the Drago zodiart, Dom, with Cupid behind him. D. Blue summoned both the Hawk Mace and Tortoise Shield, blocked a punch with the shield then countered with a whack of the mace. While D. Blue kept Dom occupied, Cupid went behind the metallic zodiart and slashed him with charge blade she'd gotten from Raven. The magic blade cut through Dom's armor but didn't do much damage beside that. Cupid worked in another slash and then flapped her wings to propel her backwards so she could avoid a counterattack from Dom.

D. Blue came from behind Dom and whacked him in the head then raised his shield to block a blow. Cupid came from Dom's side and slashed him two more times before flapping her wings to get away. Dom raised his arms and two metal balls appeared in his hands. He threw the balls at Cupid but she was able to dodge them. While that happened, D. Blue whacked one of the openings Cupid made. This caused to Dom to flinch in pain, unlike the other whacks.

 _I really hope someone comes to help us soon,_ Dexter thought, not feeling confident about his and Cupid's odds at this rate.

...

Cedar, Dremora Pink and Kamen Rider Star Knight circled around to take Spike, the stegosaurus Greed, from different sides. Star Knight swung her sword but Spike blocked it with one of his natural gauntlets. D. Pink called out her Vixey Yo-yo and swung it, hitting Spike in his chest. Cedar went behind Spike to take him off-guard but Spike shot off the ridges on his back. Cedar wasn't hurt too badly from this projectile attack due to being made of wood but the force knocked her on her back.

Spike tried to breath freezing mist onto Star Knight but she used her dazzling streak ability to quickly move backwards to avoid the mist. When done with that, Star Knight fired four energy arrows from her wrist-mounted crossbow that inflicted little to no damage.

While this happened, D. Pink got in another hit with her yo-yo. She swung it again but Spike blocked it with one of his gauntlets and then shot of the spikes at D. Pink. Spike charged but was stopped by Star Knight coming from his side and slashing his face. He tried to counter by throwing a punch but Star Knight activated her shield to block it.

 _The chest is too well builit,_ Briar thought. _I need to change targets._

D. Pink moved and swung her yo-yo to come in low and from behind Spike. It hit the back of Spike's knee, making an opening for Star Knight to deliver two sword strikes. Meanwhile, Cedar got back up and swung her hammer at Spike's head.

 _This guy's tough but we should be able to wear him down,_ Darling thought as she slashed again.


	14. Chapter 14

Back with Raven, things were not going great. She was still fighting Grizz Senior and was chopping away at him with mixed success while evading his strikes. She was too preoccupied to notice that Hopper was in a similar situation with Lil' Fattie while Demona was evenly matched with Gilroy.

Kitty teleported near where Raven and Grizz Senior were fighting. She brought with a catapault that was less than half the size of a normal one and had the cup-shaped head filled with water balloons.

"Hey Raven," Kitty greeted. Raven knew what to hexpect from briefly going over stratedgies earlier. She got away from Grizz as Kitty kicked a lever on the catapault's side, causing it to hurl its payload.

Grizz was drenched by the amount of water balloons (roughly thirty) launched at him and then started laughing uproariously from how completely unharmed he was.

"You won't be laughing much longer," Kamen Rider Nocturnal said as she held the Night Axe in guitar mode and played a power chord that shot out a bolt of lightning. That bolt hit Grizz and the electricity was worsened by all the water he was covered in. Sparks emitted all over his body as he took monumental damage.

Nocturnal played some strings on her guitar that caused the blade of the Night Axe to glow purple. She charged at Grizz and swung her empowered axe at Grizz's head, landing the blow and causing more sparks to emit from his. Grizz fell back and reverted back to his pseudo-yummy form as his Astro Switch appeared next to them. The Astro Switch shot off from the ground and flew left of Raven into the waiting hand of Evan.

"You!" Raven yelled, eager for a chance to attack Evan directly. She conjured an energy dagger in one of her hands and threw it but Evan teleported away before it hit. "Damn," Nocturnal said, cursing the missed opportunity then turned to face Kitty. "Thanks for the help. I'm good here, help someone else."

"Kay," Kitty agreed and teleported away.

Nocturnal ran towards where Demona was fighting Gilroy, the griffin Yummy. When in range, Nocturnal dispelled the Night Axe and conjured four energy daggers (two in each hand) and threw them. They hit Gilroy from behind, creating an opening for Nocturnal to work in a mighty kick. Gilroy countered by unleashing a blast of freezing mist that Demona partially avoided, resulting in only a partial hit.

Nocturnal closed the distance, brought back the Night Axe and played the strings to necessary to send out pink sound waves that hit Gilroy, causing him get tickled at several points on his body to make him break out into uncontrollable laughter. Demona delivered two kicks followed by Nocturnal swung her axe at one of his wings before the laughter spell wore off.

Gilroy countered by lashing one of his claws at Nocturnal, scoring a hit on her chest. He made another claw strike that only grazed the dark Rider while Demona kicked him again.

Gilroy flew into the air but only got a few feet off the ground due to his injured wing. Nocturnal dismissed the Night Axe again, leapt up, grabbed one of Gilroy's legs and yanked down, lowering the Griffin Yummy. With Gilroy back on the ground and surprised by his flight not working, Demona did a mighty roundhouse kick that hit Gilroy's chest. This forced him back and knocked Nocturnal to the side of him.

The dark Rider quickly recovered, conjured an energy dagger and stabbed Gilroy in the head, stunning him for a bit. Nocturnal conjured another dagger in the other hand and stabbed Gilroy in the head again. Demona decided to follow through by jumping up, doing a front flip while airborne and drop kicking Gilroy in the head as well.

All these blows to the head were to do Gilroy in. He fell backwards and exploded into a mass of Cell Medals.

"Are you all right?" Nocturnal asked her hellsteed. Nocturnal neighed in a way that told Nocturnal that she was hurt but still willing to fight. "Good," Nocturnal answered and they both ran to help Hopper.

...

With the Mantis yummy dealt with, Apple saw Cupid and Dexter fighting Dom and not having much success. _I think I can help with that,_ Apple thought.

Apple notched an arrow and used the bow's magic to turn it into a diamond arrow. This took a lot of magic so she could only use it once a day but if what she had in mind worked, it would be worth it. She shot the arrow while aiming slightly upward so that it would hit with the added force of gravity behind it.

The arrow hit shortly before he turned around to face it. The diamond arrow penetrated Dom's armor and caused him massive pain.

"Time to end this," Dremora Blue said. He used his Hawk Mace to whack at the arrow's base (which was also diamond) to drive it through like a nail. The arrow went through Dom's torso, causing him to fall backwards and explode.

D. Blue, Cupid and Apple briefly cheered in spellibration of this minor victory before going off to see who else needed help.

...

With Faebelle out of the way for now, Duchess decided to go help the group consisting of Sparrow, Melody, Meiling and Finelope. Olivia kicked Meiling hard enough to knock her several feet away and then did a spinning kick that grazed Sparrow and sent him to the ground while taking another blast from Finelope's rifle. Olivia was about to go after Melody again but was stopped by being attacked Duchess.

Melody continued playing her flute, empowering Duchess. This combined with her zodiart form made her fairy powerful. She easily moved around Olivia while slashing at the ostrich yummy with her fans.

Olivia took over ten slashes before Olivia decided to engulf one of her feet in flames and used it to give Duchess a serious hot-foot. This created an opening for Olivia to work in two kicks followed by a roundhouse with with the flaming foot. These blows caused spark damage to Duchess while knocking her back.

"Sparrow, blizzard combo. Now," Meiling commanded. Both of them took out different treats prepared for them by Ginger and ate them. Meiling's treat gave her temporary ice powers while Sparrow's gave him temporary wind powers. They came together and used these new powers to make a small blizzard aimed at Olivia. Due to the ostrich yummy being a creature of fire, this caused many sparks to emit all over its body.

At the same time, Finelope started unloading shots at Olivia while Duchess spun in place and shot out many of her feather projectiles. The result of all these attacks was enough to defeat Olivia. She fell backwards and exploded into a mass of Cell Medals.

 _At last, that's behind me,_ Meiling thought, glad to be rid of the last trace of her former alliance with Evan.

...

D. Green and Ashlynn were still fighting Mason, the chisel zodiart. Mason had stopped throwing his had spikes due to how easily Ashlynn could turn those against him. D. Green had taken a few blows while fighting Mason but while he'd gotten a few of his own in but they didn't seem to do much damage. Ashlynn got in a few shots from her wand but those were similarity ineffectual.

Kitty materialized behind Mason and threw one of her exploding pies. The pie hit Mason's back and exploded, causing some spark damage. Mason turned to where the attack came from and had another pie hit his front, also exploding.

D. Green chopped at Mason two more times with his axe and then evaded a counterattack. Kitty reappeared next to Ashlynn holding another one of the large cakes.

"Can you hurl this at him?" Kitty asked. Ashlynn nodded yes and telekinetically grabbed the cake.

"Hunter, get clear," Ashlynn warned before launching the baked explosive. D. Green got of the way right before the hit, causing a large explosion. Due to Mason's weight, he remained in place in place as sparks erupted all over him.

This stunned Mason long enough for D. Green to bring out his Croc Cannon and fire directly at Mason's head. While this happened, Kitty appeared above Mason holding six pies and then disappeared while the pies fell on or near Mason. Ashlynn fired many sparkling blasts from her wand while D. Green firedthe Croc Cannon again.

This combined onslaught was enough to finish off Mason, causing him

...

Dremora Red was still fighting Oscar the owl Yummy and was still whittling him down. She was soon joined by her half-sister, Romana, after she'd defeated Camille.

"Fire in the hole," Romona warned as she readied her torch. D. Red got out of the way as Romona usleashed her fascimile of dragon breath. Oscar was covered in flames and suffered spark damage over his body.

When the flames subsided, D. Red rushed Oscar and slashed at him a few times. Oscar countered by swinging one of his wings and scored a grazing hit from the bladed feathers. Romona ran towards Oscar and slashed at him twice before running off. Oscar attempted to counterattack with a powerful gust but Romona had moved away by then. D. Red took this opportunity to work in a few slashes.

Kitty teleported near where the wolf sisters were fighting Oscar and she brought the small catapault with her. This time it was loaded with a mult-layer cake baked by Ginger to be highly explosive. She kicked the lever and launched the cake towards Oscar.

"Incoming!" Kitty yelled, warning the wolf girls. They saw the cake while it was in flight and got of the way. The cake landed near Oscar and produced a large explosion. Oscar was flung away for some distance and then landed with a thud. Kitty teleported away and reappeared above Oscar carrying six pies. She teleported away again and let the pies drop, where they landed on and next to Oscar and exploding.

Before Oscar got up, Romana took out her torch and used it to do her impression of dragon breath again. When the flames subsided, Oscar got up and was met by a flurry of slashes from both wolf sisters. D. Red got in a few slashes on Oscar's throat, causing him down and explode into a mess of Cell Medals.

"Thanks for your help," D. Red said to her half-sister, then looked around and saw that D. Yellow was struggling with Blondie. "I have to go," she said and then ran towards that battle.

 _You're too good for him,_ Romana thought in regards to Cerise's relationship with the future Prince Charming.

D. Red got behind Blondie and slashed her several times. Blondie countered by swinging her club with surprising swiftness and hitting D. Red square in the chest, causing much spark damage and knocking her to the ground.

 _You're going to pay for that,_ Daring thought angrily. He kicked and got the horn from one of his Rhino Boots to hit directly behind Blondie's knee, causing her great pain and setting her off balance. He followed through by delivering a might punch to Blondie's head that sent her to the ground.

 _Raven's right: fighting fair is way overrated,_ Daring thought as he walked over to Blondie and stomped on her head with one of his boots. This caused some spark damage but was not enough to render Blondie unconscious so he stomped two more times. This rendered Blondie unconscious, knocking Blondie out of her Dopant form and causing her Gaia Memory to fly out and shatter.

"Are you okay?" D. Yellow asked D. Red as he helped her up.

"I'm fine," D. Red answered. "Though I wished I'd a better job at helping you."

"If it makes you feel any better," D. Yellow continued, "I was annoyingly evenly matched with Blondie until you gave me an opening."

"A little," D. Red said and noticed that the fight D. Pink, Cedar and Kamen Rider Star Knight was not going well. "We've got a teammate to help." She grabbed D. Yellow's hand and went towards that battle.

...

Spike, the stegosaurus yummy, was proving to be a resilient foe. He'd taken hits from the three girls he was fighting but didn't seem to be getting worn down. Cedar struck him with her warhammer, so he grabbed the shaft and shoved her to the ground with a sshoulder tackle. He then swung the hammer at D. Pink, causing much spark damage and sending her to the ground.

He turned to face Star Knight and she used her sword to cut off the hammer's head. Spike threw away the metal rod and struck with the ridges on one of his forearms. He struck again but Star Knight blocked with her shield.

While on the ground, D. Pink took out her Vixey Yo-yo and wrapped it around one of Spike's legs. Cedar joined her and together, they yanked with all their might. It wasn't enough to trip Spike but it did catch him off-guard. This gave Star Knight the opportunity to deliver three quick sword strikes. Spike countered by breathing freezing mist onto Star Knight, causing sparks to emit over her body. Spike was about to press his advantage but was stopped by a blast from D. Green's croc cannon.

Dremoras Yellow and Blue charged Spike while shooting arrows from their bows. He blocked most of these arrows with his gauntlets and D. Red rushed from his side while slashing with her daggers. Spike turned around to face D. Red and shoot of some spikes from one of his gauntlets that hit her back.

Star Knight worked in some more sword strikes after Spike forgot about her and then moved away to avoid a counterattack. This was followed by D. Blue coming from behind spike and whacking his head with his Hawk Mace. D. Yellow then delivered two punches with his Lion Gauntlets and followed through with a kick ending in one of his Rhino boots.

D. Pink threw out her Vixey Yo-yo and when she brought it back, D. Blue used his mace to send it back with greater force, causing Spike to stagger. This gave D. Red a chance to go up to Spike and slash him eight times with her daggers before evading a punch. D. Green had swapped out the Croc Cannon for the Grizzly Axe and delivered two mighty chops.

"Get clear," D. Pink shouted to D. Green while summoning her Fin Blade Boomerang to her hand. With D. Green out of the way, she threw the boomerang and it hit Spike's head.

Dremoras Blue and Yellow ran towards Spike and struck at the same time, Yellow with a punch and Blue with a horizontal mace strike. This combined attack was enough to knock Spike back some distance.

"Let's put 'em together," D. Blue shouted, calling for all the Dremorangers to form the Phoenix launcher. The Croc Cannon's length doubled while the Tortoise Shield flew onto end of the barrel and had a large circle hexpand from the center that went over the barrel. The Fin Blade Boomerang split into two and became handles near where cannons hextenstions met While the two Rhino boots came off of D. Yellow and attached towards the base, becoming makeshift handles. D. Red called on the Talon Striker, which flew into the cannon. With the combo weapon complete, one Dremoranger grabbed a handle and lifted the weapon.

"Phoenix Launcher, fire," all five Dremorangers shouted together, making a giant fiery version of the Talon Striker to fly out and head towards Spike. The phoenix collided with its intended target, making Spike explode into Cell Medals. The Dremorangers lowered Phoenix Launcher and cheered in spellibration at this small victory.


	15. Chapter 15

Nocturnal, Hopper and Demona were fighting Lil' Fattie in his beast Dopant form and were not making much progress due his regeneration ability. Nocturnal refused to give up and kept fighting, hoping that her friends would come help her. She would not have to wait long.

Once she was done with the owl yummie, Maddie went to go help Raven despite Raven giving instructions to prioritize aiding others. When in range Maddie fired several ice shards at Fattie that didn't seem to have any effect.

"Don't fight like that," Hopper said to Maddie. "Focus on knocking him off-balance rather than overpowering him."

"I've got something in mind," Maddie replied. "Hey, ugly," she directed at Fattie. "Come get me you overfed house cat with delusions of being a lion."

Fattie did not take this well and charged Maddie. When he got close, Maddie iced up the ground in front of him. Fattie slipped on the ice and fell forward.

"Dogpile!" Maddie shouted as she jumped on top of Fattie, shortly joined by Demona and Hopper in that order. Sadly, Fattie was so strong that it didn't take him long to get them off. "I really hoped that would work better," Maddie lamented.

"You definitely had the right idea," Hopper consoled.

While Fattie was distracted from escaping the ineffectual dogpile, Nocturnal come behind him wielding the Night Axe and delivered a swing to the back of one of his knees, knocking him off-balance. Nocturnal got in another swing and then Fattie rolled of the way to avoid another strike. He then quickly got back and scored a hit on Kamen Rider with his claws.

Fattie was stopped from tearing into Nocturnal by Demona and Hopper delivering joint leaping kicks that knocked him back several steps. Maddie had materialized a trail of ice for her to slide on and she quickly slid towards Fattie, delivering a thrust from her scepter that knocked him back further and to the ground. He got back up and charged towards the four fighters.

Apple went near where this fight was happening. She remembered about this creature having a powerful healing ability and had been saving a special arrow for it. She shot an arrow that hit Fattie's back and erupted into acid upon contact, causing Fattie to scream in pain because the corrosive was too powerful for his healing to counteract. Demona kicked at where the arrow had hit, making Fattie cry out in pain again. Hopper caught on that Fattie now had a weak spot and kicked there as well.

"Raven!" Cupid yelled to get her attention. Once she had it, the winged girl threw the charge blade in its sheathed form to the dark Kamen Rider.

"Worth a shot," Nocturnal said as she dematerialized the Night Axe and caught the charge blade. She activated the blade and used it to stab Fattie, the magical blade sinking into him quite easily. She pulled it out, slashed at him in a different spot then moved away to avoid any counterattack. She noticed the wounds inflicted by the magical blade did not start healing, meaning the blade damaged Fattie's body in a way that his healing ability could not repair.

"Oh you're in deep shit now," Nocturnal said in delight to Fattie, happy to start inflicting lasting damage to an enemy who'd been shrugging off the combined efforts of her and three of her allies. Nocturnal made several more slashes and stabs with the charge blade while Demona, Maddie and Hopper attacked to keep him off balance.

This continued for about a minute: Nocturnal using the charge blade to create weak points in Fattie's body while her three allies attacked those weak spots.

"Demona, Hopper," Nocturnal called out to get their attention. "I know how we can finish him off. Follow my lead."

Nocturnal brought back the Night Axe and held it in guitar mode. She played it for a bit, creating a glowing dark purple symbol of a woman's boot on the ground in front of her. She ran towards the symbol, followed closely by Hopper and Demona. They all jumped when over the symbol, going several feet into the air while their right feet were surrounded by glowing purple energy. They flew towards Fattie and kicked him all at once, the force propelling the Beast Dopant back as sparks emitted from his body. Fattie landed on the ground, reverting to his original form as an overweight cat while his Gaia Memory exited his body and then shattered.

Evan appeared next to Fattie. He telekinetically grabbed the remains of the Beast Gaia Memory then grabbed Fattie and teleported away. Evan dropped off Fattie at the cave he used as a lair and then teleported back to the quarry to face Raven's forces.

"Well well," he said to everyone else while over thirty feet from them. They were scattered and grouped up across from him. "I bet you're feeling fairy proud of yourselves, having defeated all my monsters including Mason, one of my first!" Evan angrily said, having lost his composure after mentioning the loss of a monster he'd had for a long time.

"If you surrender peacefully," Duchess began, "I promise that your beating will only be severe enough to keep you in the hostpital for a few weeks."

"Surrender? Me?" Evan laughed for a quite a bit at this notion.

"That can't be good," D. Pink said, not liking how confident Evan seemed given his circumstances.

"This fight isn't over yet," Evan declared. He produced six Astro Switches from his cloak and floated them in the air. He had grabbed these after his zodiarts had been defeated, even foribly de-transforming the Wolf zodiart after Kitty had rendered it uncouncious. He telekinetically clicked the buttons, creating eight Dustard ninjas from each switch for a total of forty-eight. He then reached into another pocket and threw a large amount of Cell Medals, creating roughly a hundred pseudo-yummies to back up the Dustards.

"Oh come on!" Duchess shouted, not liking this new obstacle between her and Evan's beating.

"But I'm not done yet," Evan continued. "Tell me Raven: have you wondered how Hopper was able to side with you at all when the Gaia Memory's mind altering effects should have made him obsessed with fighting you?"

"No," Nocturnal calmly replied, "I was too busy fighting off the forces you siced on me. But now that you mention it, that is odd."

"That's because," Evan continued, "I used Hopper as a test subject for a spell I developed to cancel out the Memorie's more psychoactive effects. And while I'm immensely disappointed that Hopper lost sight of upholding the school's ideals..."

"Like you give a crap about those ideals," Hopper countered.

"His betrayal," Evan continued, "proves that the spell was a success: which means I can enter this fight personally."

From a different pocket on his cloak, Evan floated out the remains of all the Gaia Memories from his defeated allies. He brought the remains together and used his magic on them to cover them in gold light. The light subsided and in their place was now a complete Gaia Memory. He grabbed the new Memory and then rolled up the sleeve on his right arm, revealing an injector port. He cast the same spell on his port that he did on Hopper's and activated the Memory.

 **Weather**

Evan inserted the memory, covering him in gold triangles that quickly disappeared and revelead his new form. Evan was now humanoid wearing white boots and a sleeveless assortment of different items on his chest over a black body. His head was now white with what looked like a black V over his face, a small gold ornament on the forehead and a small know of what seemed to be hair in the back.

 _This is gonna be good,_ Evan thought. _I've used my magic to perform small versions of what this memory can do so I know what my new abilities are. Combine that with my magic should boost the memory's considerable power and I've got this in the bag._

"Oh no," Nocturnal said worryingly, familiar with the abilities of this Dopant from her viewing of Kamen Rider Double's hexploits.

"So let's review," Evan said as he stepped in front of his Dustard and pseudo-yummy foot soldiers. "I have a small army lesser monsters in my corner in addition to all the forces of nature at my command." Evan demonstrated this by reaching out with his right hand and generating a large spark of red lightning, which disappeared after a few seconds and was replaced by a tiny tornado that also disappeared. "Meanwhile, your forces are injured, fatigued and I imagine you already used up your really good weapons and abilities because you weren't hexpecting there to be a round 2."

 _He is absolutely right about that last part,_ Apple thought. She wasn't hexpecting Evan to have a backup force which is why she was so willing to use the diamond and acid arrows earlier.

"You can save me time and your friends bodily harm by surrendering, Raven," Evan bellowed. "Once I've used Faebelle's mother's artifact on you to make you want to pledge your destiny, I promise to leave your friends alone."

"A promise from you is worth dog shit!" D. Pink shouted, hoping that her new girlfriend wasn't seriously considering giving in to Evan.

"Fair point," Evan calmly conceded. "But how about this: once Raven has signed the Storybook of Legends after I give her an attitude adjustment, I will confess to the authorities about how I coerced her into it, including presenting a video I recorded of Headmaster Grimm giving me his OK to do all of that."

"You've been plotting agaisnt the Headmaster?" Apple asked in surprise.

"In case things didn't work out," Evan began, "I wanted an insurance policy to make sure that he'd suffer some responsibility. After all, none of us would be here today if he hadn't encouraged me to take things this far."

 _Typical villain behavior: shifting blame for your actions to other factors,_ Cerise thought.

"I'm conflicted _,_ " Nocturnal admitted. "On one hand _,_ I don't trust you at all. On the other hand, I'd really like that video and preparing to sell out an ally to make things easier on yourself is hexactly something you'd do."

"Thank you," Evan said graciously _._

"That was not a compliment," Nocturnal corrected and then turned to her allies. "What do you think? I don't like our odds of continuing this fight and it would be safer for the rest of you if I take my chances on his offer."

"Maybe we could retreat and try again when we're back to 100%?" Cupid suggested _._

"No," Duchess spoke up. "If we retreat, Evan will slink away and begin rebuilding his forces: we need to press on."

"Besides," Apple piped in, "if we beat Evan, we can get this video he mentioned, assuming it exists."

There was silence for a few moments as Raven weighed her options.

"If any of you want to back out now, I won't blame you," Nocturnal said.

"If I leave now," Duchess began, "the odds of me getting any kind of meaningful revenge on Evan go way the hex down."

"And I do not want," D. Pink said, "to leave you at that psycho's lack of mercy." She held and Nocturnal's hand and meant to gaze pleadingly into her eyes. Even though the effort was ruined by them both wearing gloves and helmets, the message got through.

"While I still don't like you personally," D. Yellow began _,_ "I'm not giving up on this."

Nocturnal looked around and saw nods of confirmation from the other Dremorangers as well as Maddie and Kamen Rider Star Knight.

"And our monstrous reinforcements should be here shortly," Apple reminded everyone _._ This was enough to steel the group's resolve and they decided to stay and fight. They all turned to face Evan's forces _,_ relaying their intention.

"So be it," Evan said grimly. "Charge!"He directed his forces to advance.

The Dremorangers brought out their bows and started firing arrows at the same time Apple did the same with her bow and Finelope with her spell rifle. The Dustards were able to avoid these projectiles but the pseudo-yummies weren't. Kitty materialized above the advancing hoard and dropped six explosive pies onto them, damaging a number of pseudo-yummies.

"Demona, Darling, Maddie, Duchess: you're with me," Nocturnal called out. "We're going after Evan directly."

"Finally," Duchess said in determination, so eager for this that she didn't mind following Raven's orders. The five of them moved to go around Evan's small army while it charged forward.

A group of Dustards was charging the Dremorangers. D. Red rushed towards them and slashed with her Wolf Fang Daggers, rushing past the first to go after others. She slashed at three Dustards before one got in a sword strike. While the Dustards were focused D. Red, the other Dremorangers attacked, each scoring a hit with their weapons (gauntlet, mace, axe and magic yo-yo) on a Dustard, making it disperse into Stardust.

About eight Dustards lined up and threw shuriken at Dremoras Yellow, Blue, Green and Pink. Yellow and Blue blocked with their gauntlets and shield, respectively, but Green and Pink took two hits each _._ Those eight Dustards charged the four Dremorangers _._ Yellow and Blue struck two while four went around them towards Green and Pink.

D. Pink summoned the Fin Blade Boomerang and threw it at a Dustard. The minion withstood this attack and another one went towards D. Pink but was hit by the Vixey Yo-yo, making it stagger. D. Pink swung the yo-yo at the first Dustard (dispersing it) and then bringing it back to disperse the other one.

D. Green dispersed one of the Dustards that went after him with a chop of the Grizzly Axe while he took a hit from the other Dustard. D. Green countered and dispersed it.

The rest of Raven's allies were doing well. Apple and Finelope were shooting their projectile weapons. Hopper kicked foes down while evading many blows. Kitty teleported in randomly to pelt foes with exploding pies. Since they were closer together now, Melody's flute empowered Cupid (who once again had the charge blade), Jillian, Meiling and Sparrow. The four of them moved faster and hit harder, enabling them to handle the pseudo-yummies without much difficulty.

Raven's group avoided the bulk of Evan's horde but did have to fight past a few pseudo-yummies. They were now standing in front of Evan.

"Five agaisnt one: I still like my odds," Evan boasted.


	16. Chapter 16

Duchess spun in place to send out a barrage of feather projectiles that Evan deflected by creating a small tornado around himself to blow them off-course.

"Do you any of you want to try something that doesn't suck?" Evan asked mockingly. Star Knight didn't say anything and responded by shooting two energy bolts from her wrist crossbow. Evan shot those down with two lightning bolts fired in quick succession. "I'm starting to think none of you knows what 'not suck' means," Evan taunted.

Duchess teleported away and Evan countered by turning around and sending a lightning bolt towards where he hexpected Duchess to reappear but was surprised to find nothing there.

"Huh?" Evan wondered aloud and soon got his answer about where Duchess went from her stepping on his head after teleporting to directly above him. Evan fell to the ground and Duchess quickly followed through by kicking him in the side. Evan used his power to create a raging blizzard above him that caused many sparks to emit over her body.

Evan rolled to get away from Duchess and stood up. Maddie had crated a sheet of ice on the ground to slide on, got near Duchess and used her scepter to absorb the cold around Duchess. She then pointed the scepter at Evan and unleashed a super-charged blast of freezing mist that hit Evan caused great spark damage. Evan focused through the pain and shot two lightning bolts at Maddie.

Evan was slashed by Star Knight and was then kicked by Demona. Nocturnal played a power cord on her Night Axe, shooting a blot of lightning at Evan. He used his power to make the lightning bolt ball up in his hand and shoved it into Demona, causing spark damage.

"Why did I think that would work?" Nocturnal asked aloud as she began charging towards Evan.

Star Knight shot two bolts from her wrist crossbow that hit Evan, who countered by sending out a typhoon that knocked Star Knight back. Maddie came from behind and swung her scepter twice. Evan created a small tornado under his feet that launched him away from Maddie. He landed about twenty feet away and intensified the sunlight around Maddie to near-searing levels. This did not cause spark damage but it did weaken Maddie.

Evan was slashed from behind by Duchess. He attempted to fire a point blank lightning bolt but she avoided it. He was then struck by Nocturnal's Night Axe and kicked by Demona. He summoned a torrential downpour in front of the dark rider and her steed. He was struck again by Duchess but focused on his next step: firing two lightning bolts at Nocturnal and Demona.

Nocturnal played her guitar to create a sonic shield around her that deflected the lightning bolt sent at her, but that caused it to arc towards Demona. Being hit by the lightning bolts while soaked made sparks erupt all over Demona. She fell to the ground and sunk into an infernal portal in the ground, returning to her home realm to recover.

"Oh shit!" Nocturnal said, angry at the defeat of her steed but determined to make up for it.

...

Dremora Red was striking Dustards with her daggers while moving swiftly between targets to avoid counterattacks. Unfortunately, she wound up surrounded and a few Dustards slashed her. Two jumped into the air with the intent to perform leaping slashes but were stopped by being tackled a flying humanoid. The Dustards crashed to the ground and dissapated into stardust while the flying person landed on the ground. D. Red gazed at her new ally and noticed that she looked like a teenaged girl made of brownish metal with long, blue and black hair.

"Hello," the metal girl said to D. Red as she kicked a Dustard and had a powerful jet of steam burst from the bottom of her feet, knocking the Dustard back almost a dozen feet.

"Please tell me you're one of Raven's friends from monster school," D. Red pleaded.

"It's Monster High and yes," the metal girl responded. "I'm Robecca Steam. And even though Raven is more a friend of a friend, when Draculara told me of her predicament..."

"While I'd really like to hear more," D. Red interupted as she slashed at a Dustard, "we should probably save it for later."

"Agreed," Robecca conceded.

She and the rather large group of monsters had arrived several minutes ago. Baba Yaga directed them to a cart she had gotten ahead of time and Robecca pulled them, propelled by her rocket boots. Once arrived, she'd gone to aid D. Red while the other monsters engaged Evan's horde.

Manny Taur charged into group of pseudo-yummies head first and made them fall like bowling pins. Operetta unleashed a powerful scream that knocked back and disoriented several Dustards, giving an opening for Clawd and Clawdeen Wolf to sltrike them with their claws. Johnny Spirit (coming as a favor to his ghoulfriend, Operetta) went intangible into the ground, grabbed a Dustard by the ankle and made him fall forward. Johnny then grabbed the Dustard's head while submerged in the ground and repeatedly rammed its head into the ground.

Frankie Stein was wielding two metal rods as batons, thrusted one into a Dustard's torso and used her electricity to turn the rod into a makeshift cattle prod. The Dustard convolsed for a bit before falling to the ground. Another Dustard slashed at Frankie but she blocked its sword by crossing her rods and ran a current through the rods. The Dustard convulsed like the earlier one and Frankie following through by whacking it with rods, the blows shocking as they bludgeoned. The Dustard was dissipated by this series of blows.

Hopper was fighting a large group of Dustards and while he dispatched several, he had also taken hits and was getting overwhelmed by their numbers. One Dustard was goinkg to strike him but was interrupted by having a gold chain wrap around his neck and constrict. The chain came from a magic artifact called the scorpion stinger that was on loan from Cleo De Nile to Purrsephone the werecat. The chain extended from a figuring of a gold scorpion wrapped around Purrsepone's wrist, the tail magically lengthening in response to Purrsepone's thoughts. With This Dustard restrained, the other werecat twin, Meowlody, charged and used an armband on loan from Cleo to turn her right forearm into a chainsaw (no one was quite sure why that artifact did that when Meowlody used it). Meowlody cut into the Dustard's side, quickly causing it to dissipate into stardust.

Another Dustard went to slash Meowlody but she used her chainsaw arm to cut though its sword and then its body. A third Dustard went after Meowlody but was stopped by Purrsephone using the scorpion stinger like a whip to strike it. Another Dustard tried to strike Meowlody but she used her chainsaw to slash through its sword and then its body. She then slashed through another Dustard and faced Hopper.

"Are you one of Raven's friends?" Meowlody asked the insectoid looking creature.

"That's complicated," Hopper replied. "But I am on her side for this battle."

"Close enough," Meowlody said as she went after another Dustard while laughing maniacally.

Heath Burns was also laughing maniacally while wildly throwing fireballs at pseudo-yummies.

"You might want to rein it in, Heath," his ghoulfriend, Scarah Screams, said while standing next to him. For now, she was going to stand near Heath and keep him from going completely out of control with his fire powers while she kept an ace up her proverbial sleeve for later.

"Sorry babe," Heath apologized as he stopped laughing and started being more deliberate with his aim. "It's just that I've caused so much destruction on accident with my powers, a dark part of me is curious how much I can do on purpose."

"We should probably talk about that later," Scarah said nervously. "For now, just keep in mind who you're shooting at and don't throw fireballs at full speed."

"You got it," Heath agreed as he restrained himself.

Four Dustards were closing in on Apple. She shot a sonic arrow at the group that dazed them enough for Apple to start putting distance between them. As she ran away, Lagoona Blue and Deuce Gorgon (both wielding machetes) charge the four Dustards. Both slashed at a Dustard each and then Deuce raised his sunglasses to turn another one into stone. He then slashed at the first one's head, causing it to dissipate.

Lagoona dispatched a Dustard with a few quick slashes and then nimbly dodged a strike from another and knocked its sword out of its hand with her machete. The Dustard kicked her in side, knocking her back a bit. Lagoona dodged a punch while also slashing as she ran past, then turned around and delivered another slash, dissipating the Dustard.

"Thanks Lagoona," Apple said as she walked up to the fish girl and gorgon.

"No worries Apple," Lagoona replied cheerily. "Though as far as first in person meetings go, this could be better.

Meiling was fighting several Dustards with her sword and doing a great job. Three Dustards were going to attack her from behind but were stopped by a jet of flame unleashed by Jinafire Long, who was also carrying a machete. She rushed to Meiling's side and joined her in battle.

"You're Meiling, right?" Jinafire asked.

"Yes," the daughter of Mulan answered, causing Jinafire to grin from ear to ear.

"I know this might not be the right time," Jinafire began, "but it is an amazing honor to fight alongside you."

"I take it you're a big fan of my mother's," Meiling dryly responded.

"Yes," Jinafire hexcitedly answered. "How did you know?"

"That's usually the case," Meiling began, "when someone I've never met before says it's an amazing honor to meet me."

Cupid was fighting nearby and had just stabbed a pseudo-yummy with her charge blade, causing it to collapse to the ground. A ball of ice zoomed past her and hit another pseudo-yummy in the head, causing the ice ball to shatter and the pseudo-yummy to fall to the ground like a puppet that had its strings cut. Cupid looked at where the ice ball had come from and saw Abbey Bominable run over, grab a downed pseudo-yummy by its legs and hurl it into a group of pseudo-yummies, making them fall down.

"Thanks Abbey," Cupid greeted.

"No problem," Abbey returned with a slight smile, indicating that she was enjoying this. She formed a small but thick icicle in her hand and swung it like a club at a pseudo-yummy's head, making it collapse. Once again, she grabbed it by the legs and hurled it into a group.

The arrival of the monstrous reinforcements gave Hopper enough breathing room to start kicking Dustards around like they were rag dolls. Kitty appeared next one such downed Dustard weilding her sledgehammer from earlier and swung the hammer at its head, dissipating it. She heard two Dustards to her left, looked there and saw them throw shuriken at her. She teleported away before the projectiles hit and reappeared behind them holding two pies that she threw at them. The pies exploded, making them dissipate into stardust.

Finelope was shooting her rifle Dustards that her allies were fighting, her shots causing the Dustards to dissipate or providing allies openings for them to land their own killing blows. While shooting, she failed to notice a Dustard get behind her and kick the back of her wheel chair to knock her off. The Dustard went over and kicked the spell rifle away from Finelope. It raised its sword to strike mermaid but Finelope struck first by swiping her (rather thick) tail and knocking the Dustard off its feet. She flopped to get on top of the Dustard and started punching its head into the ground, causing it to dissipate.

"I really hope someone saw that," Finelope said.

"I saw it," Frankie said after walking over to Finelope. "That was cool." The patch-work girl had intended to aid the downed mermaid butt that proven to be unnecessary.

"Thank you, strange-looking girl I've never met," Finelope replied.

"I'm Frankie."

"I'm Finelope. Now could you be a dear and grab my wheelchair: I'd really like to get back to shooting things."

"Kay," Frankie enthusiastically agreed.

 _I think I just made a new friend_ , Finelope thought. _She's helpful, witnessed an act of my awesomeness and has yet to make a comment about my weight. I may have to reconsider my opinion of her if that last one changes though._

Frankie brought her the wheelchair while Finelope reclaimed her spell rifle. She got back on her wheel-chair and resumed firing.


	17. Chapter 17

The battle with Evan personally went on while his horde fought Raven's allies. Maddie had gotten close to him and whacked him with her sceptre but Evan countered with an open-palmed strike quickly followed by a wind blast that blew her away.

Kamen Rider Star Knight used her 'dazzling streak' ability to get close to Evan and made two quick strikes with her swords. Evan summoned a torrential downpour that hit Star Knight hard enough knock her down and send her rolling back a bit. Evan's hands crackled with red electricity as he readied two lightning bolts finish her off. Fortunately for her, Maddie had slid on a sheet of ice she made to get behind Evan and whacked him twice with her sceptre. She then unleashed a blast of freezing mist that hit Evan, causing spark damage.

 _I'm f(# ed if he hits me with a lightning bolt,_ Darling thought. _All this water I'm drenched with isn't going away for a while. I'll need to keep my distance for now._

Evan still had the two bolts he'd been charging earlier. He fired those and two other launched from around his hands at Maddie. The bolts were drawn to her sceptre like a lightning rod, causing massive spark damage to Maddie. This made her fall to the ground and revert out of her zodiart form.

Nocturnal ran at Evan and screamed in anger at seeing her closest friend get defeated. She summoned the Night axe and scored a hit on Evan's shoulder, dispelled the axe and followed through with two punches. Evan shot a lightning bolt at her but she sidestepped to avoid blast and delivered an elbow strike to Evan's head. She got in a knee strike and then sidestepped another lightning bolt.

At this point, Duchess had joined Nocturnal and slashed at Evan with her fans. Evan conjured a tornado around himself that hexpanded and knocked Duchess and the dark Rider down. He briefly chuckled at this small victory and was then hit by two energy bolts from Star Knight's crossbow.

"Forgot about you," Evan admitted as he faced Star Knight and shot out a lightning bolt. The celestial rider activated the shield from her crossbow and blocked the lightning bolt.

Nocturnal got back up, summoned the Night Axe and played a few chords on it that sent out greenish-yellow soundwaves that hit Evan and made him hextremely dizzy. He tried to fire a lightning bolt at Nocturnal but was too dizzy to aim properly. Nocturnal charged and swung the Night Axe at the same time Duchess slashed at Evan with her fans. With precise attack options not available, Evan conjured another tornado around himself that knocked Nocturnal and Duchess down again just as the dizziness spell wore off. Nocturnal and Duchess were having some trouble getting up to hexaustion and the toll of all the blows they'd taken.

At this point, Raven's allies had finished with all the Dustards and Pseudo-yummies. Heath and Scarah had gotten on Finelope's wheelchair to get a ride over to Evan. The two monsters got off and faced the Gaia Memory empowered magic user.

"What do you two think you can do?" Evan mocked.

"This," Scarah answered as her jaw unhinged and she released an incredibly powerful scream. Due to her not yet being an adult banshee, she could only scream like this once every few days. Evan was clutching his head in pain as he tried (unsuccessfully) to block out the immense noise.

Right after Scarah started screaming, Heath produced a jet of flame that travelled along the scream. The flames were fanned by the force of the scream and completely engulfed Evan, causing spark damage all over him. This only lasted for about five seconds before Scarah reached her limit.

While Evan was caught up in the screaming inferno, Robecca had put her arms around Abbey and flew both of them at Evan just as the flames subsided. Abbey created some ice around her fist and punched Evan, the combined force of her strength and Robbeca's speed making Evan fly for about twenty feet and land in a painful sounding thud.

He landed not far from Apple and the majority of Raven's allies. Apple shot two explosive arrows at Evan while he stood up. Evan shot two lightning bolts and each split into many smaller bolts with the intent to incapacitate this group without causing too much permanent damage. Clawd saw this coming and launched Frankie to intercept the electrical attack. All the small lightning bolts were drawn to Frankie's metal batons like lightning rods, sending the current into the daughter of Frankenstien's monster, energizing her.

"Huh?" Evan said aloud, not understanding why the bolts did that. While befuddled, Kitty teleported behind him and threw two explosive pies while Finelope unloaded some shots. Frankie took the opportunity to channel all the electricity she'd just gotten and fire a bolt of lightning that Evan's chest.

 _Now's my chance,_ Darling thought as put the handle of her sword into the barrel of her wrist crossbow, the two weapons fitting perfectly. She fired the crossbow, the sword turning into a large energy bolt that hit Evan, causing massive spark damage. Combined with all the hits he'd taken previously, this was enough to force Evan out of his Dopant form and make the Weather Gaia Memory eject from his body and then shatter.

Duchess had gotten back on her feet and made her way to Evan and hit him across the face three times. Even though Duchess restrained her zodiart strength enough to not kill him, the blows were enough to knock out one of his teeth and cause intense swelling.

"I think he's had enough," Deuce said as he walked up to them. He grabbed Evan and raised his sunglasses, his gorgon stare turning Evan into stone.

"That's a neat trick," Duchess complemented.

"You'd be surprised how often I don't hear that," Deuce responded.

Nocturnal was still having some trouble getting back up when Apple and Frankie had come over to help her.

Faebelle had regained consciousness a while ago and saw Evan get soundly defeated. She began to run away (more like hobble away due to her injuries) but was stopped by a shot from Finelope hitting the ground in front of her.

"That's far enough," Finelope threatened with her rifle raised as everyone else walked towards her.

"If I surrender peacefully," Faebelle began, voice shaking in fear, "do you promise not to hurt me like him."

"Duchess?" Nocturnal asked for her input. Once up, she was able to stay that way on her own.

"My revenge is sated," Duchess answered. While she fairy much wanted to beat up Faebelle earlier but with the satisfaction from beating up Evan and the fact that Faebelle was now outnumbered to an unsporting degree, she'd decided that enough was enough.

"Revert out of your Dopant form so Deuce can stone you," Nocturnal demanded. "It'll only last a few hours and in that time, we'll have come up with a more long-term decision."

Faebelle complied with Noccturnal and exited her form she took with energy from the Dragon Gaia Memory. Deuce walked over and turned her into stone.

"Well that's one thing taken care of," Nocturnal said, "but what happened to Lizzie and Blondie?"

"They're over there," Dremora Blue answered, pointing to where Lizzie and Blondie were standing some distance away, disheveled but generally fine. "When they lost their Dopant forms, they must have wisely decided to slink away from the battle. What do you want to do with them?"

"We'll take them back to the school," Nocturnal replied. "After that, I don't know."

"So did we win?" Clawdeen asked.

"Not just yet," Dremora Red piped in pointing towards where Monty, the Mantis Yummy was regaling consciousnesses after his fight with Jillian and Apple. All the fighters readied themselves for Monty to attack and were pleasantly surprised when he put his hands behind his head and got down on his knees. "He must be surrendering because he knows he's outnumbered like thirty to one."

"Deuce," Nocturnal began, "will your stone gaze work on him?"

"Let's find out," the male gorgon confidently answered as he walked over to Monty and raised his glasses. Unlike Deuce's usual victims, Monty turned to stone gradually, the whole process taking almost thirty seconds.

"Now we've won," Nocturnal answered Clawdeen's earlier question. Everyone cheered in spellibration as those who were in a transformed state (Kamen Riders Nocturnal and Star Knight, the Dremorangers, Hopper and Duchess) returned to their original forms.

 _We did it,_ Apple thought. _And we did it together: Royals and Rebels, humans and monsters,_ she paused and looked around to see Cedar and Robecca talking to each other. _Animal, mineral and Vegetable._

Most of the couples got near each other and started displaying their affections. Dexter and Cupid held hands, Daring and Cerise embraced each other as did Hunter and Ashlynn, Manny picked up Meowlody and twirled her around for a bit. Briar went over to Raven and the two of them went into a long kiss.

"I'm so happy for you, Raven," Frankie said as the two disengaged.

"You're going to have to introduce me to your friends," Briar said.

"Yes, do that. I'd like to know who's responsible for my defeat," a voice said near the group. Everyone turned and saw Evan standing there.

"How is he there and there at the same time?" Deuce asked, pointing between the new Evan and the one he turned to stone.

"This is Evan's magical duplicate, E2," Raven clarified and then faced E2. Unbeknown to her, E2 had been remotely viewing the battle via crystal ball. When he saw that Evan lost, he activated a pre-charged teleporting stone and arrived to implement Evan's insurance policy. "What do you want?"

"To negotiate," E2 said as he held up a mirrorphone. "I have something you want."

"I take it," Apple began, "that that phone contains the video Evan mentioned earlier: the one that has incriminating evidence of Headmaster Grimm condoning Evan's actions."

"Correct," E2 answered jubilantly. "And it's all yours: all I need is for you and Raven to give me your words that when you turn in Evan and Faebelle, you plead for leniency on their behalves."

"I give my word," Apple agreed.

"So do I," Raven said.

"Hexcellent. Here you go," E2 said and then handed the phone over. At this point, the main goal was to ensure that Grimm went down with the ship, so to speak: getting leniency for Evan and Faebelle was a bonus. He then noticed that the fingertips on his right hand were starting to fade away. "Crap: that's happening sooner than I thought."

"What's wrong?" Apple asked.

"Getting turned to stone has messed with Evan's magic," E2 started hexplaining. "I've been cut off from my power source and will fade away soon. You're still sticking to the agreement though, right?"

"Yes," Apple answered.

"Sure," Raven said. She didn't like the idea of sticking to that agreement when they could have just waited for E2 to fade but she felt that getting the means to put Grimm in serious hot water was worth leniency for Evan and Faebelle.

Everyone gathered and started making their way back to Ever After High. They had to put the stone forms of Evan, Faebelle and Monty in a cart so some had to walk, slowing them down.

Along the way, the monsters and humans started chatting, finding surprising common ground despite their differences.

...

"This is not good," Grimm said out loud in his office. He'd been using a crystal ball to remotely view the battle and saw E2 hand over a mirrorphone. While he couldn't hear what anybody was saying, he figured that the phone contained evidence against him and Evan's duplicate was handing it over as part of a deal to make things easier on Evan.

 _Good thing I planned for this,_ Grimm thought as he grabbed a duffle bad he'd pre-packed that was by his desk. After how badly his original plan to deceive and coerce Raven into pledging her destiny on Legacy Day went, he'd learnt to have a backup plan.

In this case, the backup plan was to have a bug out bag on him and then use a pre-charged teleporter stone to go to a cabin he had. The cabin had another teleporter stone he'd use to go to the coast, where he'd get on a boat and travel north. He'd be dozens of miles away by the time anyone started looking for him.

He reached into drawer in his desk and took out the teleporter stone. He activated the stone but instead of teleporting away, the stone turned into a black gas.

"What the hex?!" Grimm hexlaimed as he briefly choked on the gas and then passed out.

Baba Yaga then teleported into the room and smirked at her handiwork. She'd snuck into Grimm's office earlier, scanned for magical items that he would likely misuse, found the teleporter stone and tampered with it so that it would turn into an incapacitating gas.

Baba Yaga then took out a roll of duct tape and taped Grimm to his chair, ensuring that he'd be waiting to answer any questions people would have for him once Apple and Raven got back to the school.


	18. Chapter 18

It was now over an hour after the big battle. The students of EA High said thank yous and goodbyes to the monstrous visitors while Frankie and Clawdeen brought up the idea of doing something special to spellibrate their victory. Baba Yaga had lead all the visitors from Monster High back to the portal entrance sent them back to where they came from.

Hopper, Blondie and Lizzie were in a classroom that was locked from the outside. With Grimm incapacitated, the most respected authority figure at the school was Coach Arthur. Raven and Apple were filling him in on everything while the three of them were waiting to be told what punishment would await them for having sided with Evan.

Coach Arthur walked through the door and the room tensed.

"Coach Arthur," Hopper began. "I know this looks bad for me, but you have to take into a can't ... uh oh." Hopper then turned into his frog form. "The worst I did when I as part of Evan's cabal was get into a sparring match with Duchess. I turned on him just as the battle began."

"Raven and Apple told me about that," Coach Arthur said. "And how the information you gave was a great help in planning their counterattack."

"You what?" Lizzie asked in astonished anger. Coach Arthur cleared his throat to get Lizzie's attention and she decided it would be best to not act on her anger in front of him.

"Because of that," Arthur continued, "you're free to go Hopper."

Hopper began ... well, hopping out of the room while Blondie and Lizzie awaited their fates.

"As for you, Blondie," Coach Arthur continued. "Raven told me that the device Evan gave you had mind-altering effects. Did Evan use it on you without your knowledge?"

"No," Blondie answered. "I used it willingly: after Headmaster Grimm showed up and told us that working with Evan was necessary to get everyone's destinies back on track. If he said it was okay, who was I to disagree: hexspecially since the importance of doing as I'm told has been hammered into me for practically my whole life."

"Raven and Apple made a similar point when they asked me to go easy on you two," Arthur said. "You being repeatedly told about the importance of doing as you're told made it fairy easy for Grimm to abuse the trust both of you had in him as an authority figure to enact his own agenda. Since all evidence points to you two getting caught up in Evan and Grimm's machinations, I've decided to give both of you two weeks of in school suspension. That is merciful considering Evan and Faebelle are going to be in juvenile detention for at least year."

"What about Grimm?" Lizzie asked.

"Or for that matter, the mantis creature that surrendered?" Blondie asked.

"To answer the second question first," Arthur began, "Baba Yaga is going to use her magic to make sure the mantis creature remains in stone permantely because we have no idea what else to do with it. As for Grimm, he'll definitely be fired for condoning a student assaulting another student and planning to subject her to pyschic reconditioning. Between his personal wealth and how much the royal council that oversees has appreciated his work in the past, he'll probably get off with house arrest instead of prison time. I have no idea what the length of the sentence will be though."

Arthur bid the two laddies goodbye and then went to see Apple and Raven. He entered their dorm room and found the of them plus Baba Yaga talking with Apple's mother over Apple's mirror, no doubt telling her about everything that's happened.

"Just the person I wanted to see," Snow White said to Arthur. "In light of recent events, the school is going to need a new headmaster: I'd like it to be you, Arthur."

"I respectfully decline," Arthur replied. "I like being hands-on with training the next generation of heroes. I nominate Baba Yaga for the position."

"Me?" Baba Yaga said in astonishment.

"You knew Grimm was taking things too far," Arthur continued, "and you took steps to undermine him even though you would have ended up in jail if hexposed. I would consider that a great display of moral integrity and courage. Combine that with how you know how the school is run because you've spent years as Grimm's right hand and I doubt we'd find someone more qualified."

"I concur," Snow White added. "Of course this will need to be run by the rest of the council and you'll most likely be given the job on a trial basis. Also, I'm going to recommend that more checks and balances be placed on the position of headmaster than there have been traditionally. It's nothing against you personally: it's just that Grimm's actions have shown that blind faith is no substitute for oversight and accountability."

"I understand," Baba Yaga agreed. "I promise to do my best."

 _Headmistress Baba Yaga: I rather like the sound of that,_ Baba Yaga thought. While she originally had no intention taking Grimm's job, she was definitely interested now that it was availible.

"If we're talking about oversight," Apple began talking to her mother, "and rethinking how things at the school work, we should really take a look at how Professor Rumplestiltskin runs his class."

"I'll make a note of it," Snow White replied and then looked at Raven. "Before the battle, Apple told me that she wanted to reach amiable compromises with the Rebels. I would normally be against that but recent events have made me realize that ardent devotion to the status quo for it's own sake may not be the best goal. I will look into possible compromises but whether they can be acted on will be up to the rest of the council, who will most likely not be receptive to the idea. You must understand that people can be fairy afraid of change. They think that the future means the end of history. Personally, I don't think we've run out of history just yet." (1)

"I agree completely," Raven said. She said goodbye to Apple's mother and smiled at knowing that the ability to decide her own fate was closer than ever to deciding her own fate.

…..

Author's notes: (1) that line may not make sense in context and I apologize. I thought it would fit thematically even though it's from one of my favourite movies, Star Trek 6: the undiscovered a country, which is an allegory for the end of the Cold War.

There will most likely be a larger epilogue of some kind later.


End file.
